Infinite Sharingan
by Arthur Hansen
Summary: My take on "Team Sharingan" and what those cursed eyes will do to all of Team 7's genins. With a bit of help from Fanboyinmusprime.
1. Birth of a Team

Naruto was a nine year old child, hated by seemingly everyone in his village. Cold eyes glared at him from almost all adults. The ninja of Konoha never attacked him, even though their hatred seemed to be the worst.

It was the civilians that sometimes attacked him. Usually just enough to run him off from their homes or business. Hoes, rakes and brooms were favored items of 'punishment'. But this spring, three young men were doing a good job of thrashing him. Each hit of the improvised weapon seemed to darken Naruto's normally bright blue eyes.

The ANBU watching the fight had lost his father to the attack of the Nine-Tailed demon, so was falling strictly to the letter of the instructions. He would intervene if he felt any 'serious' harm could fall upon the Demon Container.

One of the attackers had graduated from the Academy though. And he kept up his practice for self-defense purposes. So while his two friends were hitting painfully, he was carefully and methodically hitting more vitals with his rake. None of the attacks were lethal, but they would eventually cause internal bleeding and, he was sure, 'accidentally' kill the demon.

Naruto was just a bit too young to really understand what was going on, but he could feel the tightly controlled killing intent. Deep in his blood from his unknown grandfather a Blood Talent fought to awaken as it would in any clan. It was hindered by the dilution of two generations that did not come from that clan... but all it needed was more power.

Chakra pulsed within the Demon Container as the Nine-Tail fought to keep his fragile container alive. Inadvertently, it was blackening the boy's eyes. After twenty hits, Naruto's eyes were nearly as dark as coal. Strange swirls were trying to form. Only one eye even came close to forming the comma-like new iris as the blood-red pupil changed. But it had changed. His bright blue eyes were a thing of the past.

"Stop," the bull ANBU finally ordered. "This is your one warning. Never attack this boy again." The ANBU checked Naruto over superficially, seeing only bruises and not the damaged inner strikes of a failed genin. With a shrug, he picked up the demon-child and left to take him home.

"Well, I hope that child dies," the young man that worked at the pastry shop said.

"Me, too."

* * *

Naruto awoke the next day, still feeling sore. "Man, those dummies really hit hard," he complained. This was not the first time, but it was the worst that he ever remembered. Most people just gave him really nasty looks. He squinted at the sun that was peeking over the forests outside the village. "Gah. Gonna be late for class."

He quickly showered and then made some instant ramen. While it was cooking for three minutes, he checked his face for any bruises. And that was when he saw his almost black eyes on his bruised face. The smell of his ramen distracted him. Quickly slurping his noodles, he finished his morning and headed off to the Academy as quickly as possible.

He was actually slightly early and saw his first teacher, Iruka Umino. "Why, I'm a bit amazed. See, Naruto, you can be a good student!" This teacher was only strict and did not seem to hate Naruto, though there was some distance between them.

"Ha ha ha. Yeah, I suppose so," Naruto said as he scratched his head nervously. "Kinda got beat up last night by some jerks. Now my eyes are black."

The scarred teacher frowned at that, but at least Naruto seemed okay. But bullies had always existed, of course. "Let me take a look." He lifted up the boys chin to look at the bruising, only to freeze. It was not a 'black eye' of bruising around the eyes, but his pupils were actually very dark blue, almost black.

He had only seen something similar when a young student's eyes had seemed to go cloudy. It was found out that his mother had an affair with one of the branch members of the Hyuga, just before he had disappeared on a mission. As his eyes had looked normal at birth, the mother had thought nothing of it. Until his bloodline had activated.

He had been forced to join the Hyuga sub-house, something he never forgave his mother for. But that had been a few years ago.

"Well, Naruto, it looks like your eyes are part of some blood line or other. You might want to talk to the Hokage about it." Iruka knew the Hokage had been watching Naruto very closely. "In fact, with those bruises, you should go see him and then take the day off."

"You mean you are letting me take the day off and all I have to do is talk to the old man? Wahoo!" Naurto shouted as he leaped into the air with one fist up. He was off and running, heading to the Hokage's tower.

It was not very long at all by the time he got there. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was just starting to work on his pile of paperwork. That was when the door slammed open.

"Hey, Old Man! Teacher Iruka said I should talk to you," the battered looking boy called out.

The old man tipped back his hat of office. "Maybe after you close the door. You sure do seem excited for some reason."

Naruto slammed the door closed. "Yeah, he seems to think I might have down something with a bloodline. All I know is my eyes went all dark."

"So I see. When did this happen?" Hiruzen asked in a fatherly tone.

"Well, these three creeps last night roughed me up. One of them was scary. It was hurting before that ANBU showed up. And I could sorta see things, uh, funny."

"You didn't see things like glowing lines inside the people, did you?"

"No. Not like that. Like everything slowed down. And something went funny with the color."

"Like you could see everything and see what was about to happen?" the Hokage said in muted horror. Naruto had unlocked the Sharingan at such a young age? Though thinking back on old reports on missions, that did fit with genin teams with an Uchiha in them. If they got into a serious battle or the threat of death, the Sharingans had a high chance of becaming active.

It was a defense mechanism, to keep them alive, he concluded.

"Yeah, just like that! So I gotta bloodline limit thingy?" Naruto asked curiously. The people like the Hyugas were all respected because of their powers.

"Yes, Naruto, it appears you do. And you must not use it for now. It is far too dangerous." He held up a hand, his face very, very serious to forestall the young boy's explosion of questions and anger. "There are people that may try to kill you for this information. In fact, I think I'm going to make this a special S-Rank secret."

"S-Rank secret? What's that mean?" the young boy asked.

"It's something only important ninja are supposed to know. As you are planning on becoming a ninja, this will be a good test. You will tell no one but your jonin team leader after you become a genin. If he decides that you should tell you team, you will. But only if he tells you." There was only one jonin that Hiruzen could see being their leader. It was time to get Kakashi Hatake to resign from ANBU anyways.

"You mean... I have this cool power and I can't tell anyone?" the boy complained. "That sucks."

"But you will do that, because you are going to become a great ninja, right?" the Hokage asked, pandering to his desires.

"Yeah! I'm going to have your job someday! You better believe it!" he declared.

The old man chuckled at that while patting the young boy on his head.

* * *

For a great many things, it was like nothing would change. For others, there _were _small changes. Naruto started wearing his goggles to cover his newly darkened eyes. In the classroom, only one girl noticed his changed eye colors. She was confused, but mentally tagged it as just one more unusual thing about the boy she was starting to develop a crush on.

Other things that changed is that he had ever so slightly better chakra control. Because, in the safety of his home, he sometimes trained his eyes to show the strange change that he could sometimes trigger. It seemed odd to him that he could sometimes get one or two little swirling comma-like markings to appear.

Sometimes, when he was sneaking around to do his pranks and had his tinted goggles on, he would watch people with his Sharingan active. Some noticed him, but none saw the strange change in his eyes. And so he learned a little bit. A few minor ninjitsu and he could seemingly copy taijitsu more easily. In the class spars, Naruto was no longer very low in sparring and weapons, but solidly in the upper-middle.

Sadly, his ability to creat illusion clones was very always lacking. And his test scores may have actually been slightly worse. So after his last prank (painting the Hokage monuments with swirls and runny noses) which got him in trouble yet again, he was in class and glaring at his arch-rival, Sasuke Uchiha.

At least that what Naruto thought. Sasuke just thought him a pest. Naruto perked up as the girl he fancied looked over at him.

Sakura Haruno looked at him and with a smile told him, "Get out of my way! I'm sitting next to Sasuke!"

That crushed the exuberant boy for a moment, but he decided to act out again in school. He invaded Sasuke's personal space, glaring at Sasuke's face from only inches away while standing on their shared desk. "What makes you so cool?"

Shikarmaru decided to teach the fool a lesson. Accidentally, of course. He turned around as if to see what was going on and knocked the two together. Their reaction (and all of the girl's reaction) to their 'accidental' kiss was totally hilarious.

"Settle down!" Iruka called out, trying to hide his own laughter at the kids' antics. "We are going to have a small test on our basics techniques."

All of the students grumbled but sat still as each student was called up and asked to cover them with an illusion of the teacher so he could critique it.

Naruto pulled a fast one with his sexy technique. He dropped it quickly whe he saw a tick in the teacher's left eye. "I can do it, really! I was just getting a rise out of you." Very quickly, he made an illusion of the teacher.

"Passable, but you have my scar backwards," the teacher warned. "Getting things reversed is the biggest mistake with this jitsu."

"Hehe. Oops."

After all the kids had managed to pass that test (even Naruto) Iruka dropped the bombshell on the final test, tomorrow. Everyone looked fairly pleased except Naruto, who was slightly panicking. Even the Sharingan had not helped him master that. He knew the signs correctly, but for some reason his illusion clones never worked.

* * *

Naruto was staring across the open field to his classmates that had all passed... and he had not. What use was a cool bloodline when it did not help when you really needed. He slid his goggles down over his face despondantly.

Above him, the teacher Mizuki smirked. This was going to be perfect. "Say, Naruto? What do you say to a special test so that you can graduate?"

"Really?" Naruto asked.

That was how he had ended up being 'tasked' with stealing a certain scroll from the Old Man's house. He had gotten it and was desperately trying to learn the technique... which was another clone technique. He almost screamed in frustration deep in the woods at the shed he'd been told to go to. It was starting to get very dark and Naruto was getting desperate.

"Naruto, what do you think you are doing?" Iruka called out angrily hours later.

"I'm learning a really cool thing so I can graduate. Mizuki said that if I learned from this scroll, that he would pass me," Naruto called out gleefully, overcoming his raggedness. He had been practicing for hours, after all.

"Mizuki?" Suddenly, Iruka realized that his student had been set up. When he felt the killing intent spike behind him, he reacted instantly, knocking Naruto away. That left him open for a critical moment, though the three kunai that cut into his back.

"Teacher?" Naruto called out in confusion.

"Naruto," Mizuki called out. "Give me that scroll."

"Naruto, whatever you do, don't give him that scroll. He's a traitor!" Iruka called out as he slumped up against the wall of a shed.

"What's going on?" Naruto cried out in confusion.

"Did you ever wonder why everyone hated you, freak?" Mizuki ignored the other teacher's protestations as he landed. "It's because you are the demon that killed so many of their friends and family. You are the Kitsune... the Nine Tailed Fox Demon! That's why everyone hates you. Even your dear friend, Iruka. Because you murdered his parents," he spat out nastily.

"No. No, that's not true," Naruto protested weakly. Was that really why everyone hated him? The killing intent coming out of Mizuki was freezing him in place.

"Naruto, run!" Iruka yelled out. When he saw that the boy could not move as the traitor threw a windmill shurikan at him, he did the only thing he could, putting him in the way to stop the blow on his chunin's light armor. His back screamed, but he was not dying yet. "Run to the village as- quickly- as you can!" The young student took off into the woods, slipping his goggles over his eyes to hide his tears.

Iruka managed to intercept Mizuki, each pretending to be someone they were not. The more wounded teacher had pretended to be Naruto, while Mizuki had pretended to be Iruka, finding it surprising when 'Naruto' failed to give him the forbidden scroll. They tussled quickly, discovering each other's true identity. Iruka came off worse, but stoutly stayed by his student's side even as the traitor was about to kill him.

Naruto, closer than either teacher could imagine just on the other side of a tree, was crying as he realized that his favorite teacher really did care for him. Under his goggles, two marks swirled in each eye as anger and emotional pain filled him. He jumped out, kicking a windmill shurikan from hitting Iruka and knocking the traitorous teacher back.

"Keep your hands off him or I'll kill you," Naruto shouted furiously.

"You kid? I'm going to kill you, then kill your teacher and leave this stupid village," Mizuki said in the nastiest tone possible. "And probably be considered a hero for all of those actions."

Naruto made the hand-seal to activate his new ability, anger fueling his chakra. Mizuki could not believe what he saw as hundreds and _hundreds _of physical clones appeared. "Get him!" the real Naruto shouted.

After five minutes of beating up the traitor, he released the clones. He suddenly staggered, his eyes aching. That reminded him that he needed to stop empowering his eyes with chakra.

"That was- amazing," Iruka admitted. He tried to stand up, but was too weak right then. "Naruto, come here." As the boy got closer to him, he smiled. "Close your eyes. I have something for you."

Naruto swallowed but did as instructed. His goggles were removed and something replaced them. "Huh?"

"Congratulations, Naruto, on graduating." He sagged back down, almost unconscious. "I think we better bandage these wounds, huh?"

"Yeah!" Naruto got to that immediately, trying to stem the flow of blood. One of the cuts on Iruka's leg looked like it was bleeding pretty badly. He managed to tighten it, but his teacher was still unconscious. "Teacher?

After a few minutes where Naruto could have sworn that Iruka's breathing was slowing, he panicked. Making a half dozen clones, he picked up the teacher and rushed back towards the village. At the entrance, he yelled out, "Help! Help! He's bleeding to death. Help him, please!"

The guards were surprised and were starting to move to attack or capture Naruto, but with the tears and the wounded ninja they moved to help the teacher first. The Rat ANBU took Iruka and in a blur headed to the hospital.

Just a minute or two later, the jonin ninja Hiashi Hyuga appeared at the scene. He took in the crying child and sighed. It was obvious that this was just another prank gone horribly wrong. "You. Naruto Uzimaki. What happened?" he asked gruffily.

"Teacher Mizuki tricked me into... stealing this scroll. Then he attacked me and Iruka. But I showed him. I beat him up, even if he did tell me about... the demon." Tears were still trickling down his face.

That actually surprised him. Hiashi turned to one of the ANBU. "Follow his trail. If this Mizuki is there, arrest him and bring him back." So that was what the Hokage had meant that the issue was 'resolved' by Naruto. "Do not speak of that again. I must have heard you incorrectly, as talking about... that... is punishable by death. No exceptions."

Naruto blinked at that, not understanding. "Will teacher be all right?"

"If he makes it through the night, perhaps. That is part of being a ninja, being ready to face death. You should head home. I will take the scroll back to the Hokgae." He held out his hand imperiously for the scroll that was nearly the size of Naruto.

"Uh, okay. Um, sir." Naruto hated this.

* * *

The next morning, a different teacher was at the front of the class as Naruto walked in as he yawned and rubbed his eye.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked with a frown. That frown grew when she saw the metal plate with the Konoha leaf around his neck. "You didn't graduate."

"I did too. But it's because of what happened last night. Um, teacher?" Naruto asked worriedly. "Is Iruka going to be all right?"

The older, female chunin nodded. "You must be Naruto. He'll be fine, he's just going to be in the hospital from that traitor's attacks." The kunoichi then stood up. "All right, quiet down. We are going to be assigning you to your teams."

Naruto tuned out everyone as he hoped, hoped, hoped for Sakura to be on his team while wishing with his whole heart for Sasuke to be on anyone's team but his own.

"Sakura Haruno! Naruto Uzumiaki! Sasuke Uchiha, you are on Team 7." The older woman looked around, then shrugged. "Wait here for your team leader."

She then continued on for the last three teams. All of the other teams were led out by their new team leaders and she left shortly afterwards. After an hour, Naruto finally had enough.

"Where the hell is this jerk?" he shouted as his leaf symbol jangled around his neck. As normal, he still had his goggles on his forehead.

"I'm sure he has his reason for being late, dummy," Sakura said, glaring at the boy.

Sasuke was just ignoring them both. As far as he was concerned, they were both just in his way.

Naruto quickly went to the door of the classroom and carefully lodged a chalk eraser up at the top in such a way that it probably would not be noticed.

Two minutes later (and a bit more sniping back and forth between Naruto and Sakura) someone opened the door and got a hair-full of chalk dust. The silver-haired man looked younger than his hair would suggest. His left eye was covered by his ajar head protector and he had a mask covering the lower part of his face.

Glaring at the three children that were all pleased with him being pranked, he stated, "My opinion of you is... I hate you all." That just seemed to get them all riled up. "Meet at the Remembrance Monument in ten minutes. Do _not_ be late."

With that, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Great, dummy. Good job alienating our team leader," Sasuke said darkly.

"We better hurry," Sakura said in a worried voice. She was not totally sure she could run that far in that little of time.

"What a jerk!" But Naruto led the charge out of the main part of the village and to the monument.

In front of them was Kakashi, looking over the monument as if merely idly wasting time. "Introduce yourselves. Likes, dislikes and hobbies."

"Um, why don't you go first, teacher?" Sakura said as she smoothed her short red-pink dress. over her short pants. It would give her a little bit more time to catch her breath.

"Fine. I'm Kakashi Hatake. Hmm. I like some things. And dislikes others. I have some hobbies." He seemed utterly bored.

"You didn't tell us anything but your name," Naruto exclaimed while pointing at the jonin.

"You," Kakashi said while ignoring Naruto, pointing at Sakura.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are..." she said as she peeked at Sasuke. Then she looked at Naruto. "My dislikes are..." Then she thought for a moment. "My hobby is learning trivia."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I love ramen! I like it even better when Iruka pays for it. I hate waiting three minutes for ramen to cook." Naruto seemed to take a deep breath. "My dream is to surpass any and all Hokages to get the village to acknowledge how great I am! Um, my hobbies are pranks, I guess."

The entire rest of the team blink-blinked at that.

With a cool smirk, Sasuke started. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate many things and like very few others. I don't have any dreams," he said with a cold voice. "My only ambition is to kill a man. And rebuild my clan." He seemed to add the last bit as an afterthought.

"I brought you here for part of your first lesson and test to become genin." Kakashi gestured at the monument. "You all know what this is. This is the monument to the fallen defenders of Konoha. You can almost certainly expect to find your name here. My team leader and one of the members of my first team are both listed."

"Hnn. Sounds like he was weak," Sasuke said with a disparaging tone.

"You are speaking of the Fourth Hokage and an Uchiha, boy," Kakashi said harshly. "You're pride is going to get you killed. It nearly did that to me."

"Um, teacher?" Sakura asked. "You mean your jonin was Minato Namikaze? I didn't know he took on a team?"

"We were supposedly one of the most promising teams, but we were pushed to active duty too early. It was the last Great Shinobi War, after all, and everyone was needed. I was a prodigy, but was also a rulebound dick." Kakashi ignored their surprise. "Rin was a pretty, young Medicine-Nin. And Obito was probably the nicest Uchiha in existence. But because of my actions, Rin was captured. I ordered Obito to continue on with the mission with myself. He disobeyed and went after her."

"Um, what happened?" Naruto asked, gulping in suspense.

"I broke off the mission and saved Obito's life from a sentry at the loss of my left eye. We both went in and then rescued Rin. That's when it went _really_ wrong. I missed one of their more powerful ninja. He set off a trap and Obito saved me at the cost of his own life. With his dying breath, he told Rin to give me this," Kakashi snapped, revealing his hidden, left eye. The Sharingan was spinning with its full three tomoe, disturbing all of the students.

"And it was because I was too stupid to use the Fourth Hokage's kunai like he'd told me. My best rival, who was really my best friend, was dead because I thought I was better than my team."

"Why are you telling us this?" Sakura almost screeched out. "Why?"

"I'm giving you a dose of reality. Ninja die. I've never seen more than one that retired. And he didn't stay retired." Kakashi walked up to the monument, touching the names on the rock. "Your lives are going to depend on your team mates."

"Hnn," Sasuke said dismissively.

The slap that resounded through clearing from Kakashi's slap to Sasuke's cheek seemed defeaning in the clearing. "Attitudes like your's will get you _and_ your team mates dead. Do you want to see your name on here before fullfilling your duties?" Kakashi asked. "Right now, you are less than trash. The first mission against ninja would see you dead in a split second."

"I don't need any one," the last Uchiha said in a cold, bitter anger.

"Then you might as well quit being a ninja. Your ambition is totally beyond you. You might be a prodigy, Sasuke Uchiha, but the man you want to kill... was a genin already at ten. And a chunin at twelve. And an ANBU at fifteen. He's just going to be getting further ahead of you-" Kakashi was lecturing the red-faced boy when a whirlwind descended upon him. "-what?"

In a spatter of blood and sand, his body was ripped apart as a ninja in sand-colored robes appeared. His hidden village's symbol had a strange mark sliced through it. "Huh, I thought the Copycat Ninja would be tougher. I guess you people from the Hidden Village of the Leaf are just weaklings. So it looks like I can toy with you." His killing intent was so massive, that the three genin in front of him could not even move. He made several hand seals too fast for any of them to catch.

Bars of sand appeared around the clearing, making a wall twenty feet tall.

"I am Unduto the Sand Storm. I will make you scream for mercy before killing you," the robed ninja said. He reached within his belt and pulled out a long needle; a senbon. "It takes a lot of killing for people to die with this." He suddenly dashed forward and shoved the point into Sasuke's stomach in an amazingly painful place.

"How dare you?" Naruto shouted as he managed to get his feet to finally move and charged Unduto's back. For that effort, he received a jab in each bicep that disabled them in incredible pain and a kick to his stomach.

"Being loud won't help you, shorty," the Sand Ninja said in a snide tone. "And look, you can't make any hand seals." He dragged the needle painfully across Naruto's neck, leaving a red mark. "Swish. You just died." There was a horrible laugh that left Naruto weakneed.

In a burst of sand, he disappeared from all of the genin's sight. A wall of dust appeared around the edge of the clearing. "You three have no chance against me. Even working together, you can only prolong your suffering."

"Come on, jerk! Don't just stand there!" Naruto shouted as his arms twitched.

Sakura finally took a single step. Then another. Sasuke was sweating and was serously thinking of ending his own life.

"Some rookie of the year. You're a pathetic loser," Naruto shouted into Sasuke's face. "At least I _tried_."

Sakura screamed as her shoulder was pierced, numbing one shoulder. The blur behind her disappeared. "We need to protect our backs," she cried out.

"R-right," Sasuke said in a shaky voice.

Naruto was starting to flex his tingling hands. He had no idea on how impossible that was, even as he slid his goggles down over his eyes. "Does anyone see him?"

Sasuke and Sakura were looking around frantically. They both cried out as they saw a figure appear and pointed... in two different directions.

"Clones?" Naruto and Sakura chorused.

"Well, two can play that game," Naruto said as he suddenly created a dozen clones.

"Weak clones are just a drain on your stamina," Unduto said from the spinning wind as all of Naruto's clones popped. A needle appeared in Sasuke's leg, faster than he would have thought possible. The whole leg went numb and he almost collapsed "The Uchiha must have become weak if you could not even block that."

_That_ got Sasuke mad as he grabbed the needle and pulled it out. "We need to escape." He felt a strange burning in his eyes, not realizing that two tomoe had appeared in each eye.

"There is no escape. Your future is only death," the haunting voice said from within the sand. Another needle flashed out, but was knocked out of the air by Sasuke before it could hit Sakura's neck.

"Follow me!" Naruto shouted. His own Sharingan was finally active, though unsteadily. He created twice as many clones and then charged the nearest edge of the field. Half his clones were destroyed before he got there, but the rest suddenly grabbed the real genin and then threw them up into the air.

Naruto made more another hand seal while they were all in mid-air, creating more clones that grabbed them and then threw them over the sand bars at the edge of the clearing. They all tumbled into the grass and in between trees.

Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of them. "And you pass your test." With a wave of his hand, the sand all collapsed.

"What the hell? You nearly killed us for that?" Naruto shouted in anger.

"You were not in real danger unless you failed to work together. Your team was stronger than the test. Teams are _always_ stronger than a single ninja. You had best remember that." Kakashi had his protector over his Sharingan eye as he made that point to Sasuke. "And congratulations, Sasuke, on awakening your Sharingan."

"You- knew?" Sasuke panted. For just a test, that was beyond terrifying. "What sort of test was that?"

"One that was specifically created for this team and its members." Kakashi leaned back against the nearest tree. "If it's any consolation, this was not my plan. I was just going to use the standard bell test."

"What? Who would think of such a drastic test?" Sakura asked as she held her numb arm.

"I'm not at liberty to say, but it was approved to the highest levels. If you had failed this test, you would have been sent back to the academy. And most likely sent home if your failures continued. You all have weaknesses that need to be corrected. Sakura, you are very smart but you are not very dedicated in your training. You are using your best skill instead of shoring up your weakest traits. Naruto, you have no discipline. No matter how much you care or how strong your will is, if you don't take this seriously, you will die. And you, Sasuke? You have the worst problem. You think you are better than you are just because you are the best of your class. The Hokage assigned me to you and gave me some very specific instructions in how to train you. If you fail your training, I _will_ send you back to the academy. Even if you've been genin for six months." His one visible eye was hard as granite, making them all wince.

Sasuke looked like he had been kicked in the stomach multiple times. Naruto looked like he had just found out there would never be any ramen again. And Sakura was on the verge of crying.

"But if you follow my directions, I'll make you the best ninja you can ever hope to be. No goal will be impossible." The older ninja relaxed suddenly. "Go home and rest up. We have training at dawn tomorrow and then our first mission." Then he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura looked at the spot he was at. "Do you think he was serious?"

"As a heart attack," Sasuke said slowly. "That was... brutal."

"You guys want to get breakfast? It's still early," Naruto offered in an almost timid voice as he slid up his goggles.

"Say, Naruto, why do you wear those?" the young kunoichi asked.

"It's a secret. I'm not supposed to say," he replied with a shrug. His hands were shaking if he released his fists.

Sasuke almost said something biting, but stopped. He rubbed his pained eyes for a second. "I guess we all have secrets, don't we?" He stuck his hands in his pockets as they headed to one of Naruto's favorite places.

* * *

The next month was hard on the new genin. More than once, Sakura thought about quitting. The only thing that did not stop her was that after she managed to hit Sasuke once during a spar, he started to slightly respect her. That was a quantum leap upward in his attitude.

Naruto took Kakashi's suggestion to _think_ about his wardrobe and if it was worth dying over orange actually did get the boy with the strange marks on his face to decide that maybe a bit less orange was needed there. Still, his outfit had an orange stripe here and there.

Which actually got a snide compliment from Sasuke about not wearing a target. Sakura felt the jonin's eye on her while they were talking. Though he never said anything. But it was obvious what he was trying to convey. The next day, her outfit was a lot more subdued, though not totally without her trademark pink. She was a girl, after all.

After Sasuke gave an almost identical snide compliment, she almost turned all of her clothing in for black.

This day, she had an hour before they were supposed to meet for a D-Rank mission and she was twirling her long, pink hair. Over the last month, she had come to a realization about Sasuke. He did not like girly-girls. She had noticed a few grimaces as Sasuke had seen a few civilians in very fancy dresses.

"Mom? Can you come help me?" Sakura called out.

"What's going on?" the matronly Mrs. Haruno asked.

"I think I need to get my hair cut short. This really isn't a suitable style for a kunoichi that is going to have to fight, now is it?" She hated this, but there were way too many reasons for doing it and too few reasons other than she 'liked' having long hair.

"That color is too bright. You probably need to dull it down, too. I'd suggest a brown or an auburn. I don't think we have time for that today. I actually dyed mine black when I was a ninja, but I think it made me look too pale," her mother said as she played with her daughter's hair.

Sakura opened her mouth to explain she was only talking length when it hit her what she was actually saying. "M-maybe." Her inner-voice yelled angrily about her lovely hair.

"I'm very impressed, Sakura. It's very hard being a serious kunoichi. I didn't think you would stay in as long as you have," Mrs. Haruno said as she gave her daughter a hug.

Sakura blinked but felt very warm at the compliment. "Thanks mom."

One quick haircut later and she was running towards the the meeting spot. Naruto saw her and blinked. "You cut your hair."

"Idiot. That's obvious," Sasuke said, barely looking at her.

"It was too long and it was harder to fight seriously with it," she replied, making a so-so gesture as if to say it was not that big of a deal.

"A good decision," Kakashi said as he appeared. "Come on."

They entered the Hokage's tower and to his office where different ninja were doing paperwork. The Hokage was smoking his pipe as he looked at lists of missions.

"Kakashi," the old man said, his eyes hidden under the edge of his ceremonial hat. "I have an assignement for your team."

The jonin seemed bored, but his eye was watching the scroll that the Hokage was reading from. It was _not _D-Rank mission scroll.

Hiruzan nodded. "This C-Rank mission is to escort a caravan to a trading station on the edge of the Fire Country."

All three genin were watching very closely all of a sudden. Kakashi just nodded. "We'll take it."

They received the paperwork and were told to report to the North Gate of Konoha bright and early, as the Caravan would be leaving as quickly as possible. They went to a nearby roof.

"It seems the Third Hokage has decided that you guys are ready for some tougher challenges. You should take that as a compliment," their jonin leader said. "Everyone prepare a pack and get ready. Naruto, I want to talk to you before you leave."

Naruto waited for the other two to leave. "You have a really cool jitsu you are going to teach me finally?" he shouted excitedly.

"No, this is a dress down. You know the Hokage ordered you to not use your... eyes. Sasuke almost caught you that last spar. He's been trying to figure out why you use those goggles," Kakashi said in his oh so cool tone.

"Huh. Guess it shouldn't surprise me the old man told you." Naruto thought for a second. "Beside, he made it a S-Rank secret that I couldn't tell anyone but my genin team. Well, with your permission. I'm not telling him anything. I'm just trying to be stronger."

"Letting them find out at the wrong point could destroy this team," he pointed out.

"What? We just got working together good! How could it destroy the team?" Naruto exclaimed in worried anger.

"Because, right now, Sasuke feels that being the Last Uchiha is the lynch pin to his existence. You being related to him-"

"What? What do you mean by that?" the young boy demanded.

"You didn't realize that? Your mother must have had Uchiha blood in her line some where. Probably her mother or father, otherwise-"

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked in confusion. "No one ever tells me about my family. Just that I'm an orphan."

Kakashi was thinking far more furiously than his laid back exterior would suggest. With a casual seeming shrug, he said, "I met your mother. Uzumaki isn't exactly a common Konoha name. Being that she was from the Land of Whirpools."

"Could you tell me her name?" the young blonde asked desperately, his expression so earnest and sincere.

"It's Kushina Uzumaki. I think she was a war orphan from that destroyed land." Kakashi turned slightly to look off into the distance. "She never showed those eyes, so it must have jumped generations. But like I was saying, her mother or father was probably a Uchiha."

"So I'm one too? That makes that stuck up jerk my cousin?" Naruto was somehow alternating between very happy and very dejected. "I've never had any family."

Kakashi decided to use this reason to 'learn' more about Naruto's family. "Well, I could try to find out who your Uchiha relative was. How about that?"

"Sure!" Naruto was then let go to ready for their first C-Rank mission.

It would not be until far later that Naruto realized he forgot to ask about his father.

* * *

It was evening of their first day as caravan guards and Team 7's genins were getting to be a bit foot sore.

"All right. They are setting up camp," Kakashi said, nodding to the wagons that were pulling off the road to an open clearing. "So we have a bit of time to practice. Oh, Naruto? I think we might have figured out who your grandfather was."

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. "Pheh."

"Really?" Naruto asked in extreme happiness, even getting Sakura slightly excited.

"I think he was a Missing-Nin named Numariha Uchiha. The bounty hunters caught him as he was about to get on a ship for the Land of Water about thirty years ago."

Sasuke had spun around in shock. "The stupid idiot is my cousin?" he blurted out in confusion.

"I suppose so," Kakashi said in a bored tone. "Right now we are going to work on a little bit of tree climbing."

"We already know that," Naruto exclaimed in a loud, boisterous tone. Sasuke was in agreement, as he had to agree with the idiot.

"Perfect. Climb that tree right there without you hands and I'll send you to the cook for supper," the older ninja said, pointing at a large tree.

"Say what? Without your hands? That's not possible!" the young blond said in shock.

"Then I guess you need this training then, don't you?" Kakashi walked over to the tree and started walking up the side as casually as if he were merely walking up a hill. "This will help your chakra control so you don't waste as much."

"Wasting chakra..." Sakura said in thought.

Kakashi threw three kunai to land in front of his genin. "Use these to mark your progress up the tree. Push your lower chakra into your feet to stick to the tree."

Naruto watched his two team mates as the started up. Sasuke just grabbed the blade and charged up the tree, only to fall back down with a flip. Sakura, though, made a hand seal then started to walk up the side. His mouth dropped open as he watched.

The dark-haired Uchiha looked over to see Naruto staring in shock at Sakura... who was nearly to the top of her tree. He was suddenly staring at the girl in befuddlement. She did that so easily. How was that possible?

Naruto tried to focus, making the same sign. He would try to duplicate was the girl was doing. She was obviously taking things seriously with that new haircut and dying her hair darker. Utterly intent, he tried to walk up, falling after three steps.

"Hmm. I wouldn't think Naruto would catch on so quickly," Kakashi said as he was reading his erotic novel and obviously not ignoring his students. "I guess there is an Uchiha that can figure things out without it having to be spelled out."

Sasuke glared but took a moment to really think over the jonin had said. He stared at the base of the tree a second. The other two were going up so slowly. Sakura had made it to the top, but Naruto was barely getting anywhere. And slowly-

Slowly. With a frown, he realized that Naruto _was_ trying to _walk_ up the tree, unlike his running dash. And Sakura had walked upwards. The goal was not to get up the tree. The goal was to walk up the tree. With a frown, he started started to slowly move up the tree, falling after four steps.

"I'm impressed. While Sakura might be the closest to her goals, you two are picking it up a lot faster than I would have thought," Kakashi said in flat tone. He closed his book. "I am going to check the perimeter. Once I get back, we'll have supper."

For the next two hours, they practiced seriously. Sakura was quite happy to show off for that first hour, proving she was not useless. The second hour, she started to run into a problem when she tired out. She steadily got worse while the two boys started to slowly gain on her.

"How can you keep going?" she complained. "I'm not so weak, am I?"

"I've always had a lot of stamina. And I heal quick," Naruto was quick to point out.

"Hnn." Sasuke really did not care, but he decided to answer. "The Uchiha have to have a lot of chakra to run the Sharingan."

"Yeah, just keep practicing and you'll get stonger, Sakura!" The boy with the whisker-marks said encouragingly.

With a swirl of leaves, Kakashi appeared. "You all have strengths and weaknesses. The trick of a good team is learning what they are so that your team can overcome all obsticals. Let's break from this for supper. Then we'll go over sealing your backpacks into scrolls."

The four ninja headed over to the two wagons that were the portable kitchen. The fat guy was finishing up the supper, giving them their not very large portions.

"Wish it were ramen," Naruto groused.

The really old man in robes sitting next to the cook's campfire just laughed. "That's pretty funny, boy. This stirfry is better than just ramen."

"What do you know, old man?" the blond boy shouted.

"I'm the great sage Akira the Wise! So I know these things," he said, his long and thing fu manchu mustache waggling theatrically.

"Strange, I don't remember any Akira the Wise from any of the Hidden Villages," Kakashi said calmly.

"That's because I'm no ninja, you fool," the old man said. "I am Wu Jen."

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?"

"It's nearly a lost art. Mostly because of the ancient Sage of Six Paths. He was a pioneer, refining the scattered secrets of the land into what you ninja call ninjitsu. Hardly anyone even realizes that it came from our older, more primative practices." Akira pulled out a long pipe and starting lighting it with sparks he conjured.

"That means someone did remember though, right? So who was that?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Hiruzen was the last boy I remember asking. And he said-"

"The old man?" Naruto blurted out in shock. "The Third Hokage?"

"He wasn't much older than you when I saw him," the _really_ old man said. He took a puff on his pipe. "Besides, young ninja like you probably don't think you can learn anything from an old man."

"Well, I'm having a hard time learning to walk up trees, so I don't know what you have that can help."

"You never know," Akira said.

Kakashi sent them off to bed at that point. He would take the first watch.

* * *

That was basically the way their trip to the northern border near the border of the Land of Lightning went. It was a day out that all of the genin noted that Kakashi put away his book. "Sasuke, you and Naruto take the badits on the left. Sakura and I will take the right."

The bandits charged out of the light woods and shrubs, trying to intimidate the ninja team. What they recieved, however, was a severe thrashing as the young genin showed their skills. Kakashi was evaluating his team, noting their skill in a real combat situation.

The large man with a katana that was leading the attack was frowning. These were obviously better ninja than he had thought. If they had been a little older, his group would have never attacked. There were skilled, but not _that_ skilled. He would kill their weakest one in revenge for his lost comrades, then fade into the forest.

He appeared, moving so fast that Sakura barely saw him appear. She was just turning and pulling back when she saw the katana headed to her face. In a blur, Kakashi appeared even faster than the ronin, who never even saw him before his neck was shattered.

Sakura screamed, holding her hand over her bloody, left eye.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, turning away from his opponent who quickly slashed his arm. "Argh."

"Eyes on the fight, idiot!" Sasuke shouted. With a quick set of handseals, he spat out a large fireball that killed two bandits.

Naruto suddenly created over two hundred clones. "Get them!" he shouted, even as he headed over to Sakura's side of the caravan.

Kakashi was finishing killing the bandits when dozens of Narutos showed up. "We'll finish up here! You help Sakura," he called out, ignoring the blood dribbling down his arm. In just a minute, the rest of the bandits were defeated by the swarm of blondes.

Kakashi was holding her face up to look at her eye. "It just barely knicked. Hold still, I'm going to try to heal that. I'm not a very good Medicine-Nin though." After he was finished, he quickly wrapped up the eye. "This will have to do until we can get back to Konoha."

"Am I going to lose my eye, Kakashi?" she asked in a worried voice.

"No. Not at all. But it may be a little weaker after it is properely looked at."

Naruto was grasping his arm to stem the loss of blood. He felt terrible, as if there should have been able to stop that somehow.

"What's wrong, idiot?" Sasuke said from where he was leaning against a wagon as the caravan workers cleaned up the path.

"I should have been able to stop that. She got hurt."

"And it is not your fault. It's not even Kakashi's fault," Sakura said as she touched her bandaged face. "We fight and kill. And that means we sometimes get hurt, too. I'm not just a pretty face."

In spite of himself, Sasuke was impressed. "She's right. While she got hurt, it could have been much worse."

"But-" Naruto was not sure how to convey his anguish.

"I'll be fine, Naruto." Sakura was touched by his caring. That stopped her as she realized both of them had cared for her. And she was having a hard time telling who she liked more because of that.

* * *

The small bordertown on the southern edge of the Land of Lightning was nothing very special. In fact, it appeared that normally it was very quiet until visitors arrived. The four ninja handed over the security to the soldiers of the local lord. The caravan was going to continue onward into the Land of Lightning, but ninja of the Leaf were not welcome there most of the time.

As they traveled through the bustle to a stout, stone walled inn, Kakashi noted a Cloud Ninja from the Land of Lightning. They both nodded to each other. It was not that long ago that their nations were not friends.

They were sitting up in their room and Sakura was getting ready to pound Naruto later that evening. "No, I don't need anything. No, you can not carry anything for me. I have an eye wound. My arms and legs work fine, you idiot!" she shouted in his face. "I don't need help eating."

"Sorry. Sorry! I'm just trying to help," he said with a nervous scratch of the back of his head.

"Dummy," Sasuke said where he sat in a window, watching the village street below. He suddenly dodged as a kunai came through the window to strike the bedpost.

Tied to the weapon was a piece of paper. Wrongly assuming it was a tag, Naruto created six clones. Three jumped on the weapon while three went to stand in the way between the explosion and his team mates.

And then no explosion. One of the clones picked up the kunai and pulled off the piece of paper. "Uh, a message for you, Kakashi."

The jonin took the note. "Hmm. Standard ranting death-threat for killing his brother. How bothersome."

"So what are we going to do?" Sakura saked, her one eye looking at him intently.

"We are not going to do anything. He probably recognized me on the walk over here. I'll go spring his trap. You are all staying here." At their rebellious looks, he rolled his eye. "Don't make me tie you all up."

"Feh, whatever." Sasuke moved so he could see out the windows facing to the south.

Kakashi dashed out the window and headed over the rooftops to his murderous meeting. It was only his supernal awareness that allowed him to dodge a lightning tag trap two minutes later.

"So you are Hitomi? I would suggest you consider dropping your vendetta. I do not want your death to hurt your family more," the ex-ANBU captain said in a grim tone to the chunin Cloud Ninja on the roof to his left.

The two started flashing through hand seals, readying their ninjitsu.

* * *

Naruto was just sitting back down as Sakura was carefully using a kunai to scrape the glass from the broken window into a pile. So the explosion off in the distance while a ninja burst into their room from the south-east window was totally surprising.

Before even Sasuke could blink, a hard fore-knuckle was buried in his stomach hard enough to fold him over, somehow robbing him of the ability to breathe. The ninja from the street earlier smashed a punch into Naruto's face while kicking Sakura in the face on her wounded side.

"Too easy. Kakashi, we will have to honor you for bringing us the Sharingan to the Land of Lightning," the Cloud Ninja said in a terribly nasty tone to the nina's team.

"Let him go," Naruto said as he staggered to his feet.

"Stay down, kid. You're just a genin. I don't want to have to kill you for the Sharingan," the chunin said.

"I won't let you take him!" Naruto created a ton of clones. "Get that bastard!" they shouted.

The cloud chunin almost panicked at the number of chakra clones. That should not have been possible. Clones started to pop as he started fighting the group. Seeing a Naruto hanging back, he threw a kunai with lethal intent... that popped that clone.

"Fire blossom!" Naruto shouted as he threw the minor flame attack.

The chunin hissed in pain. These brats were bring a lot tougher than he had expected. It was time to grab the kid and run. He was just reaching down for the curled up Sasuke when he leaped away as a brace of kunai nearly hit him.

"Go high, Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she charged into the melee. She barely cut the chunin when Kakashi reappeared with his first attacker in a headlock.

The chunin was slammed down and unconscious in a single move. The ex-ANBU looked at everyone. "You guys did all right for being surprised and on the other end of an ambush."

Gasping and coughing, Sasuke just glared at his team leader.

"This is why we have teams. A well planned attack can take out almost anyone, but a team watching your back may give you enough time to get back on your feet." Kakashi started to strip the two chunins of their weapons and then tied them up.

"Um, sir? Why do you keep emphasizing how important our teamwork is to Sasuke?" Sakura asked as she sat on the bed of the inn room.

"That's easy. It's so he learns that with his team, that his ambition to kill his older brother is much more likely. Instead of thinking that he's the only one that can or will take out Itachi Uchiha." The jonin leader seemed as calm as if he were talking about the weather.

"I _have_ to kill him," Sasuke declared in a cold snarl of anger.

"No, you _want_ to kill him. Unless you are declaring that you are the only one that can take down the S-Rank criminal? I think the Hokage and all the other senior jonin might have a bone to pick with you about that," Kakashi said as he finished time the enemy ninja with wire.

Sasuke did not look happy, but just looked away while he held his stomach.

"S-Rank? What does that mean?" Naruto asked. He was pretty sure it meant most dangerous type of criminal.

"Hmm. That's actually a good question. S-Rank criminals are kill on sight or flee if you can't kill them. And considering you are just genin, that means you run." His one eye was almost twinkling at his team, seemingly as if it were a smile.

"Kill or flee?" Sakura asked. "How would we flee someone like that?"

"I guess we'll have to work on that all the way back to Konoha," their leader said with a hidden smirk.

Their trip back the next day was tiring and degrading, as Kakashi ran them into the ground the whole way back.

* * *

It was a week later and Team 7 had finished their latest mission. While they were 'professional' about stalking the cat, even Sakura thought it was just wasting time that they could use training. Kakashi had left them to their own devices and they were grabbing a bite to eat at a little street cafe. Naruto had a bowl of ramen (of course) while Sasuke had bowl of spicy stirfry. Sakura was eating a bowl of rice with meat on top of it while reading using her new glasses.

"So, Sasuke, why don't you introduce your new team mate," Ino Yamanaka asked as she tried to drape herself over the last Uchiha.

"I know she's changed her looks a bit to be a more serious kunoichi, but that's still Sakura," Sasuke said as he blocked her from grabbing him.

"That's Sakura? Forehead?" Ino asked in shock. Her two teammates were taking the last two end seats behind her back.

"Hello, Piggy." Sakura had a smirk at the other girl's dumbfounded look. "You are looking very girly, aren't you?"

"Hnn." Sasuke could fit a lot of mirth in that single sound. It appeared that Sakura had finally figured out that he hated girly ninja. So she was just being _smarter_ about being a fangirl. He was not sure what to make of that.

Naruto was just watching the confrontation, his dark-blue, almost black eyes curious.

"So, you decided you were so ugly that you had to do a full make-over?" the blonde kunoichi taunted.

"It's called not being a target," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes under her darker red bangs. Strangely, people were treating her more like an adult now that she had died her hair. It was a nice change, in her opinion. Her inner self had finally switched to agreeing, especially after Sasuke had made that almost-compliment. Hoo-ra!

"How bothersome," Shikamaru Nara said at the end. Ino was obviously picking a fight here.

Choji Akimichi just settled his bulky body in place, ignoring the impending fight. He was far too concerned with eating. Their team leader, Asuma Sarutobi, was watching from the end of the cafe, chatting up the cook and owner as there was not enough room for everyone to sit down.

Ino and Sakura were trading barbs, with Ino using her new 'weakness' of needing glasses to read as a failure on Sakura's part.

"Say, Sasuke, what's your place like?" Naruto had been thinking about about his 'family' and he realized he did not know anything about the Uchiha section of town.

Sasuke frowned ever so slightly. "It's not very well kept up right now. In fact, the city council actually has to assign D-Class missions so it doesn't look like a dump."

Sakura and Ino both winced at that.

"I could probably help with that, you know! I could make a ton of clones!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"No."

"Why not?" was Naruto's quick question. He almost looked hurt and ready to sulk.

Sasuke paused, as he was not sure why he had said that. "I'll think about it then."

"We can make it a team-building experience," Sakura said quickly, cutting off Ino before she could offer to help. "Right, Naruto?"

"Right!" Naruto replied cluelessly, not realizing he'd just been used.

"Fine. We have tomorrow off so we'll meet... Hmm." Sasuke was trying to think what their nearest meetings spot to the Uchiha compound was. "I guess we can meet here. It's closest."

Hoo-ra! roared Inner-Sakura.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura were staring wide eyed at the rush of clones that Naruto was sending everywhere to start fixing up the large Uchiha compound.

The aforementioned boy looked at them funnily. "What?"

"Did you really just create _hundreds_ of Kage no Bunshins?" Sakura asked in shock. The amount of chakra needed for that was frankly terrifying to her. She quickly tried to dispel a genjitsu, only for it to fail.

"Say, Naruto, could you create one more clone for me?" Sasuke tried to ask as casually as he could while trying to force his Sharingan active.

"Sure." He smirked as he let Sasuke get his Sharingan, the created one more clone.

The last Uchiha smirked as he made the symbol and tried to create as many clones as he could. Ten clones appeared before him. Then everything started to swim before his eyes and he suddenly collapsed.

"Sasuke!" his team mates screamed.

It was an hour later that the scion of the Uchiha clan awoke, to find himself at the hospital.

"Well, young man, that was a close brush with death you had there," a Medicine-Ninja said as he calmly checked the very weak boy. "You should really learn your limits a little more closely."

"I only created ten and nearly died?" Sasuke was trying to wrap his brain around the concept that Naruto, Mr. Dead Last himself, was magnitudes better than him at something.

"I don't know many chunin that can make that many. And most of those are ready to become jonin," the Medicine-Ninja said.

"So it would be impossible to make a couple of dozen," Sasuke asked casually.

"I don't even think the sannins could make that many," the woman said with a grin.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called out happily as she entered the room. "We were so worried about you. Why did you collapse?"

Naruto had followed her in, but he was just leaning against the wall near the doorway. The Medicine-Ninja walked past him, nodding at the boy.

"I guess I gave myself chakra exhaustion. It seems its supposed to be impossible to make as many clones as Naruto..." Sasuke's voice had trailed off as he stared at Naruto.

"I don't suppose you would believe I just happen to have a lot of chakra, would you?" the blond asked sheepishly.

"Na-ru-to," Sakura as her temper started to slowly boil over.

"Wait-wait! It's not that I can't say... There's a law. Shit," Naruto grumbled as he thought. "I have to talk to the stupid old man. It's all his fault."

Sasuke and Sakura looked surprised. Sakura spoke first. "So the Third Hokage told you that there is a law about your stupid amount of chakra that you can't control?" A vein was starting to throb on her forehead.

"Yeah. If anyone talks about it they are put to death," Naruto said as he continued to think.

"Say what? Naruto, that doesn't make any sense- Naruto?"

"Ow. My head's starting to hurt." And indeed, it was. Desperately he started to clutch his forehead as more and more information started to invade his system. Memories of cleaning the Uchiha grounds. Painting walls. Discovering old stocks of food that had gone bad. Opening dust filled rooms that he remember cleaning.

For the second time in a day, one of the member of Team 7 collapsed.

Sakura screamed loudly which brought a Medicine-Ninja almost immediately. Seeing the collapsed jinchuriki, she almost left immediately except for the fuss. This was probably just a prank or something. She flipped him over and started to test him, finding his mind and head chakra-points were massively over stimulated.

"What happened?" she finally snapped out.

"He just started to complain of pain and then collapsed," Sakura said worriedly.

"Had he used any genjitsu today? Or rather, anything unusual at all?" the medic asked.

"Um, I don't think Naruto can _use_ a genjitsu. Really, all I've seen him do is make use the Kage no Bunshin," Sakura said as she thought over the day.

"I'm sorry, did you say this genin used an A-Rank ninjitsu? Those are forbidden for a good reason. Hold on here." The medic put Naruto into the bed and quickly trotted to several other professionals that started discussing matter.

She finally came back several minutes later. "Well, we have an answer for what happened to him. It looks like he overloaded his brain with all the experiences of his clones. I've never heard of it knocking someone out before, but I suppose enough pain or being weakened before hand could do it. Tell him to be careful, as he could collapse at a bad time during a fight."

"The experiences of his clones? Their _memories?_" Sasuke breathed, suddenly much more interested in the technique than before. He could finally train more than his brother did.

"To think that idiot knew such a powerful technique. And then nearly killed himself with it." Sakura could only shake her head in amazement.

When Sasuke headed home, he was surprised to find that the entire place was as good as new. Even the cracked symbol of the Uchiha on the main wall was painted.

* * *

"Not another D-Rank mission. Give us something cool," Naruto complained loudly to the Hokage in the Mission Briefing Office.

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look and nodded in agreement.

"Hmm. The only one I have right now is an escort mission to the Land of Waves," the Hokage said.

"I'm sick and tired of retrieving that cat. So that works," the young blonde said in loud relief.

The old man waved to one of the chunin in the large office, letting in an older, middle-aged man. "You found me a team that accepted my mission?" While the kids looked young, they didn't look totally stupid.

"That's right, Tazuna. Team 7 will be escorting you to the Land of Waves and the protect you from bandits while you complete your bridge." The Hokage took a puff on his pipe as he seemed to comunicate silently with Kakashi. "So its settled."

"We'll leave at seven o'clock in the morning." Kakashi disappeared in a swirld of leaves.

The next morning, the three genin were there bright and early, backpacks at the ready. While Naruto was quite excited, it was their second D-Rank mission.

"You really are just a bunch of kids, aren't you? How reliable is your team leader?" Tazuna asked, then took a swig of his sake bottle. He grimaced at the vile, cold liquid.

"Well... he's always late," Naruto explained.

"He's a pervert," Sakura added helpfully.

"But he's very strong," Sasuke had to admit. "Even I can't touch him if he doesn't want to be hit."

That was when Kakashi appeared. "It's nice to hear such high compliments from my team." His one eye seemed to be almost smiling at them.

"Fine. Whatever. Just make sure to protect me. The Land of Waves has been allies of the Land of Fire in the past," the old man said.

It was an amazing day, warm with just a bit of wind to keep things cool. Their path was fairly slow and relaxed, as Tazuna was walking on the dirt road to the east where the Land of Waves was.

Mid-afternoon and the kids were starting to flag just a little bit. This was faster than following the wagons like last time. Only Kakashi noticed the puddle, but his team reacted to his subtle preperations for combat. They did not understand why they felt like combat was about to happen, but they unconsciously readied a kunai each.

That was when two ninja suddenly attacked out of the puddle. In just a moment, the two Missing Ninja of the Hidden Mists appeared to have Kakashi wrapped in their connecting chain, the ripped him apart with the serrated chain.

"One down," the left of the almost identical ninja said. Then they charged towards Naruto.

He was just starting to react when Sasuke stapled their chain to a tree with a kunai, arresting their motion. Without any pause, their matching guantlets released the chain.

"I've got the left one," Naruto called out as he charged, blocking said ninja and keeping himself from being cut with his kunai.

Sakura moved to make sure she was between their client and the right one. Just before he got to her, Sasuke got in front of her to block the attack.

That was when Kakashi reappeared, snagging the right ninja by his neck and gripping pressure points. Another flash of movement and he had the left ninja folded over and unconscious from a single punch. "Well, that's that. You guys did pretty good too. You better check that scratch on your knuckle. I think they were using poison."

"Feh. Bleed it out, dummy." Sasuke went to pick up his kunai.

Naruto frowned, but did as instructed. "I would have done that on my own."

"You know, I could have handled that guy on my own, Kakashi!" Sakura called out as her team leader moved to talk to talk to Tazuna.

"Why aren't you yelling at Sasuke too? Never mind. So, Mr. Super Bridge Builder, why did you misrepresent this escort mission? Missing Ninja are way above a C-Rank mission. We are well within our rights to cancel this mission," the jonin said with a hard tone to Tazuna.

"Well, you see... Our country is too poor to afford a B-Rank mission. But that's all right. I'm sure my young grandson won't be too sadened when I'm killed. I mean, this bridge is only the hope of our country." Tazuna started laughing inanely.

Kakashi looked at the bridge builder like he was insane.

"We can do it anyways, right Kakashi?" Naruto shouted out. He was busy pushing the venom out from the scratch that he had cut open wider. "After all, we aren't the sort to abandon our allies!"

"What do you two think of that? This will be a very dangerous mission. Probably an A-Rank mission," their jonin leader said to the other two.

"Sounds like a challenge," Sasuke said with a cold smirk.

"This is the only way to become better ninja, right?" Sakura said in a more firm tone than she felt.

"I guess I've been over-ruled. Lucky for you, Tazuna. We'll continue the mission."

Tazuna was inwardly thrilled. His cunning plan had totally worked. Thank goodness that Konoha ninja were reknowned for their morals and willingness to help the little people.

* * *

Their trip on a chartered smuggling boat through the fog and to the island had been very quiet. The genin had been awed at the size of the bridge and amazed as the hidden tunnel that led into the actual canals and channels. After that, it was merely a matter of walking a short mile or two to Tazuna's house.

Strangely, as the day progressed, the fog became thicker. All of the genin were very alert, hearing things moving in the bushes of the light forest. The path took them near a lake, which immediately raised Naruto's hackles, as he thought of how many ninja could be hiding in the depths there.

"Down!" shouted Kakashi. He tackled Tazuna and Naruto, while Sasuke and Sakura both went down in a tangle, making sure the other had ducked.

A massive sword whizzed through the area to chop into the side of a tree. A half-moment aftewards, a tall and lanky ninja that looked very powerful was standing on handle. "So, you do have some skills."

"Zabuza, Demon of the Mists and Missing Ninja of the Hidden Mists. Team, stay back with Tazuna. This one is far beyond you," Kakashi said, internally swearing as he realized the caliber of their foe. He had expected more chunin.

"Ah, Kakashi the Copycat Ninja, renowned for knowing over a thousand jitsu." Zabuza wore the same lower-face mask that the leaf jonin had. He had a bare chest that showed of impressive muscles and black and white tiger-striped bracers. His scored, off-center head protector showed him to be a missing ninja quite blatantly.

Kakashi didn't reply, but pulled up his protector to reveal his Sharingan eye.

Zabuza chuckled and then in a flash, ripped his sword out of the tree it was trapped in and threw himself out and onto the lake. Walking in a quick straddle, feet never leaving the surface very long, he started to go through his hand seals very quickly. Very quickly a mist started to rise up.

The three genin had their back to Tazuna as they tried to stare through the mist. Sasuke was upset with himself, he had forgotten to activate his Sharingan and learn that jitsu that Zabuza had started to use. Naruto managed to also get his Sharingan active, getting as many tomoe as Sasuke (two) in each eye.

Through the dense fog, Zabuza was explaining the eight places he could strike from the mist to kill his opponents. Kakashi reassured his genin, countering the killing intent slightly. The two Sharingan users reacted instantly when Zabuza appeared in a blur, his huge sword ready to cleave bodies in half.

"Now the old man dies!" The Missing Ninja was surprised when the two genins moved so fast to block, but he never even saw Kakashi move, dragging him away from his target.

The two pivoted slightly with a flurry of quick attacks, but it was Kakashi's kunai that ended up piercing Zabuza's stomach, spurting... water? That was when the real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, cutting the Leaf jonin in half... that _also_ exploded into water as another Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza, holding his kunai to neck.

"The game ends now," Kakashi stated in a deadly whisper.

From behind him, another Zabuza replied as he ignored the death of his second water clone at Kakashi's hand, "You are right, this does end now. Your monkey tricks are no good, Sharingan Kakashi." The mist was fading away so that everyone could see what was going on.

Kakashi was again swearing a storm in his head even as his student were in awe of the layers upon layers of the fight. The Leaf jonin bent over in an incredible show of dexterity, barely avoiding _really_ geting chopped in half. Zabuza's massive sword slammed into the ground, suddenly turning into a pivot point for him to swing on a point using his hand, both feet kicking solidly into the Leaf jonin and sending his foe flying into the water.

Zabuza was stopped from instantly following up by caltrops that had been laid out by Kakashi as he had been kicked, but that merely meant he had to leap high over it to land into the small lake. Kakashi was just barely starting to realize that something was off about the water, which felt heavy. The Mist Ninja's hand slapped into the water, finishing a jitsu that trapped Kakashi.

"Team! Flee! Get Tazuna out of here now. This opponent is not someone you can fight!" the Leaf jonin called out.

"It's already too late," Zabuza said as he started forming hand seal with one hand, creating yet another water-clone. The clone hefted the massive sword, moving towards the trio of genin.

"We can't flee," Naruto said in a tight voice. "He will just hunt us down later." He started to move up on the clone.

Sasuke was still fighting the affects of the killer intent, but he saw what Naruto was saying. "So we're dead?"

"No, we free our team leader! Then we kick his ass-?" the blond was saying, just before his Leaf forehead protector was taken and kicked backwards hard by the clone.

"Your team is not exactly what it appears, is it? Sharingan Kakashi." The real Zabuza was studying to two boys that both had immature Sharingans active.

Tazuna laughed nervously. "Shouldn't we flee like your team leader asked?"

Naruto clambered to his feet with the help of Sakura. "No, we don't abandon our team mates. People that do that are less than trash."

Kakashi could not believe what he was hearing.

"Kage no Bunshin!" Naruto shouted, creating dozens of clones that charged the water clone holding his head protector. They swarmed over the water-clone of Zabuza, but were knocked back by the powerful Missing Ninja, destroying most of them. Naruto landed back next to his two genin teammates. "Hehe."

"What are you laughing about, kid? You don't think that showed you were a real ninja, do you? Pathetic-?" The clone's eyes widened as he realized that entire attack had been to recover his head-band protector, which Naruto was tieing back on his head. "You are more interesting than I thought, Uchiha."

Sasuke looked slightly confused as he had not noticed Naruto's Sharingan yet. "We still can't-"

"Shut up, Sasuke!" Naruto turned to him, his Sharingan very visible. "We're going to defeat him and rescue Kakashi! Or are you too weak?"

The last Uchiha snarled back at that. "I'm not weak." His own Sharingan was spinning angrily at the shock of seeing those eyes.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked in amazement.

"Is that a Konoha thing?" Tazuna asked to everyone that just ignored him.

The two boys pulled out kunai for each hand, then charged the clone. Zabuza's clone was having to block and duck far more than he would have ever believed possible from mere _genin_. To Sasuke and Naruto, it was like they could see where the clone was going to attack. One thing they both noticed is that the clone seemed somewhat weaker or slower than the real Zabuza.

The clone was fighting hard as the extremely heavy sword was just slightly too slow and heavy for it to hit the oddly contrasting duo of Sharingan users. At the shore of the lake, the clone manuevered near the real Zabuza that was holding Kakashi in the bubble of heavy water.

Three things happened almost at the same instant. The water-clone slammed a kick to spun Sasuke into the mud, Naruto slammed a kunai into the clone, disrupting its watery matrix... as the clone handed the sword back to the real Zabuza who spun it much faster and into Naruto's side with a sickening crunch despite his desperate attempt to block it with his kunai.

Naruto kept fighting the blow when Sasuke re-entered the fight, slamming his feet into the handle of the massive sword while cutting at the Missing Ninja's face. All of those actions finally had what Naruto and Sasuke had hoped for though...

...they had freed Kakashi from the watery prison as the Mist Ninja failed to release his sword.

"You brats! You aren't ninja! And now you die!" Zabuza yelled in anger. The massive sword spun around to cleave both of the audacious genin when it was stopped on Kakashi's armored glove who had suddenly moved inside the swing.

"You're battle is with me," Kakashi said in a deadly serious tone. In a flash, he followed Zabuza back out onto the water to resume their duel.

Sasuke wanted to follow, but had no idea how to do the trick of water walking they were using. Looking down at Naruto, he whispered, "You idiot."

Naruto had collapsed to his knees as blood poured from his side as he used his arm to hold in the blood. Spitting blood, he grinned. "We rescued him." With that, he collapsed to his face.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed as she ran up, Tazuna following quickly. She turned him over, blanching at the amount of blood leaking out of his lips.

Dual water dragons appeared to smash into each other as the jonin took the duel to a new level with ninjitsu techniques. The whole lake was awash with massive waves.

"I don't know what to do," Sakura called out in a pleading voice.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry, Sakura. Didn't mean to get hurt- or worry you-" Naruto said just before a wave smashed over all of them.

Sasuke tore his eyes away from the dying form of his team-mate. The battle on lake was coming to a head as Zabuza was losing his composure. The Missing Ninja was slammed against a tree as somehow Kakashi had outdone him at his own water ninjitsu.

"Do you really see the future?" Zabuza finally said as he was overtaken.

"Yes. I see your death," Kakashi said as he held his kunai to to his foes throat, only to dodge as a needle suddenly pierced all the way through Zabuza's neck. He turned to the masked figure in loose robes on a tree branch. "A hunter?"

The Missing Ninja collapse to his face in a gurgle.

"Yes, I have to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to kill the Demon of the Mists," the muffled voice said under his mask.

"Kakashi! Naruto- It's bad!" Sakura yelled out frantically.

Pulling his Sharingan down and keeping an eye on the Hunter, he moved over to see the two genin kneeling next to the downed member who was half-laying in a puddle.

"-really sorry, Sakura. Kakashi, its- cold." Naruto's voice was weak and fading.

"Naruto... I failed you," the jonin said.

"No- saved you. Sakura?" Naruto wheezed out. "Take my eye... like Obito. My- gift-"

"No, no. You can't be dying," Sakura said while shaking her head.

"You have to decide now. I can transplant it, but it has to be now," Kakashi ordered her.

"Please- I really like you- Sakura- For you and Sasuke," he managed to get out before he collapsed, barely still awake with a rasping breathing the only thing showing him to be still alive.

Tears were streaming down Sakura's face. "Do it," she finally said.

"I'm not a Medicine Ninja, so this will probably hurt," the jonin said. Very quickly he used the Sharingan memorized abilities he had learned to remove Sakura's left eye and implant Naruto's left on it its place. He was surprised that Sakura did not let out a cry of pain at all. "Cover it up so it does not drain you of chakra." With that, he collapsed on his face, totally drained of chakra himself.

"He's just knocked out," Sakura said, checking him. He had a bunch of light wounds. "Sasuke-?"

"Yeah, I'll carry him. We were just about to your place, right Tazuna?" Sasuke said as he tried to lift the jonin.

The bridge builder nodded as he moved over to help him pick up Kakashi. "We aren't that far. I'll help you." The sudden shock of the loudmouthed kid had undermined his will. Did he really have the right to throw them into this life and death struggle?

"Sasuke, I'm going to stay here with Naruto until the end," she said to her team mate with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Hnn."

* * *

"Where is she?" Sasuke asked for the fifth time in an hour.

"Why don't you go find out instead of asking?" Tazuna's daughter asked. She was making a meal for everyone.

"Can't leave our client unprotected," he replied darkly.

Tazuna was just staring out the porch, thinking hard.

There was a knocking on the door. "Sasuke, help me with Naruto." It was Sakura and she sounded frantic.

"What took you so- long?" Sasuke asked as he opened the door, seeing the kunoichi with a bandaged up Naruto. "Isn't he dead?"

"No, he's... huff-puff... too stupid to die, I guess. Need to get him out of the cold."

"Only Naruto would be that dumb," the last Uchiha muttered, hiding his amazement and relief. They dragged the unconscious boy to a bed next to Kakashi.

Checking the chest wound, they were amazed to see it was starting to heal and was no longer bleeding at all. "That shouldn't be possible, should it, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"There's a lot of things that don't make sense," he admitted.

The next morning, the sound of cooking food for breakfast woke up Naruto. He yawned and tried to stretch before an achy pain in his chest and eye reminded him that he should be dead.

"Dummy. Can't even die right," Sasuke said as he openede an eye to glare at his blond team mate. He had been resting against the wall.

"I guess that's right. What happened?" the bandaged boy asked with a stupid, sheepish grin. "So, how did I survive? What's wrong with Kakashi?"

"We were hoping you could explain," Sakura asked.

"I, uh, can't say. It's an S-Rank secret," the wound genin said.

"S-Rank? You? The village idiot?" the dark-haired boy asked in bewilderment.

"Actually, Naruto, you aren't restricted by that law. The Hokage or yourself are the only ones that can explain this secret," Kakashi said from his own futon, his one visible eye still closed. "But they still can't talk about it later or they will be put to death."

"Put to DEATH!" Sakura screamed, causing Tazuna and Tsunamia to rush into the room.

"Oh, you guys all survived?" the old bridge-builder asked. His mood visibly brightened up.

"Breakfast is almost ready," the young mother said, shaking her head at the excitable kids.

"We would request a bit of privacy, sir. We should be out in a few minutes." Kakashi waited for him to leave, sliding the door closed. "Like I said, only Naruto can tell you this secret and why he heals so fast."

Naruto started to sweat as he saw the two team-mates glaring at him. "Uh, hehe. Well, it all goes back to the Kitsune Nine-Tailes."

"So? The Fourth Hokage killed him before I was born," Sakura replied in confusion.

"The thing is, he didn't kill him. He sealed him into a baby that the entire village hates."

Sasuke was quicker on the uptake. "You were that baby. Damn."

Sakura was just blinking and thinking furiously fast. "And that's why you heal so fast? That's... scary and amazing."

"Yeah, but I'm hungry right now. Can we eat?"

That got a chuckle out of the rest of them.

* * *

The second morning, Kakashi joined everyone for breakfast. "Well, I have some bad news," the jonin said as he moved carefully. He was still very, very tired.

Everyone was looking at him, especially the youngest child, Inari.

"Well, just spit it out!" Sakura grumbled.

"I don't think Zabuza is dead. The Hunter did not destroy the body right there and was using a weapon that is unlikely to kill you unless you hit just right," he said as he stirred his bowl of rice in a nervous fidget. "I think we were hoodwinked. Naruto, how long until you think you can fight?"

"Um, right now? Only a little stiff and sore," the blond admitted.

Kakashi stared at him for a long time, then finally nodded. "Very well, then it is time for training. I want you to go outside and and do tree walking until you are tired. Especially you, Sakura. The Sharingan is very chakra intensive and will probably knock you out in just minutes."

"Yes, sir!" she replied with alacrity.

The three genin walked out and found three trees to start walking. Both Sasuke and Naruto were fairly unaffected, but the girl had a problem for a while. Her control had been affected a bit.

At noon, Kakashi came out to see them all still climbing. They had added walking on the bottom of the tallest branch. "All right, that's good. Now I'm going to teach you something new. It should increase your control even more, so you waste less chakra."

All three genin quickly scrambled over to where he was standing next to a small stream. As casually as if he were walking softly on leaves, the jonin walked across the surface of the water again.

"This is a continuation of the tree exercise, as you have to get the right amount of chakra in your feet to not fall in." He started to walk back to Tazuna's house. "Oh, and do try to dry off before coming in the house."

"He really didn't explain how to do this," Sakura complained.

"Probably testing us," Naruto replied.

"Hnn." Sasuke created two clones. All three of him started to play at figuring out how to walk on water.

"That's not fair. I can't create shadow clones." Sakura looked quite frustrated at that thought.

"Sure you can. You just have to watch me create a clone with your Sharingan, Sakura!" Naruto had a big grin, totally at odds with his bandaged face and covered eye. "Just cover it up immediately after so you don't get drained like Kakashi did."

She waited for him to get ready, the lifted her eye patch. She felt the huge drain on the active Sharingan, but her eye immediately memorized Naruto's motion. She could tell that she now knew the powerful jitsu. "Wow." She had it covered up immediately afterwards. Carefully, she created just a single clone and felt incredibly weak. But there she was.

"Now we can both have a Sakura!" Naruto said with a laugh. "Maybe I can at least get your clone to go out on a date, Sakura!"

"Idiot!" she said in an almost fond tone, missing the slightly turned up lips of all of the Sasukes as they trained. She and her clone started to practice.

"Here I GO!" Naruto shouted, creating hundreds of clones to start his own version of learning to water-walk.

* * *

The sun was just going down as Sasuke and Sakura dragged back the comatose form of Naruto.

"What happened?" Tsunami asked worriedly. "Did his wound reopen?"

"No, the dummy just overdid his training," Sakura almost shouted.

"I would have expected that you would collapse first, Sakura," Kakashi noted as he looked up from his novella.

"I, uh, stopped a couple of hours in. I had it pretty good, but my new eye and making a clone wore me out fast," she admitted. "Naruto knocked himself out from using too many clones for too long."

"Even just three clones gave me a bad headache," Sasuke said in a bland tone.

"You used the Sharingan?" Kakashi had not thought she would even try that.

"Yeah, Naruto showed me how to make clones like he and Sasuke can. It's really amazing. My control is back up to where its supposed to be already."

"So it must be almost fully healed then. That's good. You'll need to rig an eyepatch that you can use like I do, so you can reveal that eye.

They all started to eat, leaving Naruto unconscious. But the smell of food woke him quickly. "Food!" he said happily as he staggered out of the guest room.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Naruto," Tazuna said with a cheery grin as he took a sip of his sake. The old man was almost back to his normal mood.

Inari just glared at him, but just sat sullenly and ate.

After supper, Team 7 retired to the main guest room. "Well, I guess it is time to check our wounded. We probably have a few more days, but we want to be at our best," Kakashi said. He pointed at Sakura and then patted the ground next to where he was sitting. He noted that she wavered tiredly when he checked the eye quickly. "It looks like it is staying active, just like my own."

"So I'm always going to have to cover it up?" Sakura asked in a soft tone.

"Nah, you just have to put a little chakra into your eyes to stop the spinning, then pull it all back," Naruto called out, which got a glare from Sasuke. Unconsciously, Naruto tried to activate his Sharingan, causing a stabbing pain in his missing eye.

That confirmed to Sasuke that Naruto had his eyes active before that fight. He clenched his fists, fighting the urge to hit Naruto for having beat him to that. "He's right." That was probably the reason for those stupid goggles.

Sakura blinked her visible eye, then concentrated. Under her bandages, the two tomoe spun one direction, then slowed and stopped. Then she _felt_ the drain on her system stop. She lifted up the eye patch, revealing a very dark-blue eye. "That did it!"

Kakashi just sat there for a moment. It had been that easy? He tried to mimick her, but could tell that it did not work. "Hmm. I can't do that. Probably because I've had my eye active too long."

Sakura frowned as she tried to activate it, but just swooned on her knees as her hand went to her eye. "Wooo. Don't think I'm doing that for a little while."

"You'll need to practice. Naruto, I need to check your eye and your chest. Don't think I didn't see that pain when you activated your Sharingan," the jonin said.

"Fine." Naruto grumbled a bit as the bandage was removed.

Kakashi just stared. "Um, Naruto?" He covered the boy's good eye. "Can you see anything?"

"Uh, it's... blurry? But this is my missing eye!" Naruto started blinking that eye rapidly, moisturizing it as his vision improved. "I can see!"

"That goes way beyond dumb luck," Sasuke said in mute shock. "Why is it blue?"

Naruto pulled out a kunai to stare at his distorted reflection. He started to really focus and concentrate, as his one bright-blue eye flickered darker with a stab of agony. "I will not lose it," he suddenly snarled. He forced more chakra as his right eye's Sharingan activated. He was fighting a blinding headache before he suddenly got his eye to darken and create a tomoe again. "Man, it's like the eye forgot how to work."

"So, Naruto. When were you going to tell us you _had_ the Sharingan?" Sakura asked in an accusing tone, even as she stifled a yawn.

"Um... when it would least make you upset?" he replied back glibly. "I mean, it's cool I have it, but he's the heir of the clan. I'm just some kid that got lucky."

"Hnn." Sasuke stood up. He had the sudden desire to go for a walk. Or burn Naruto into ash.

"His grandfather was a missing ninja. When Naruto was nine, one of the citizens of the village probably tried to kill him, not knowing that the... that he would heal. The Sharingan most often activates in life and death situations. Usually while in agony." Kakashi stood up, curious to note that he had _all_ of their attention. "So he had a harder life than you did."

Sasuke was trying futilely to not desire to punch the wall. Or Naruto. "So?"

"Now you might understand him better. Though I still don't get why you are such an active loudmouth, kid." Kakashi patted Naruto on his head.

Naruto smiled at that, then realized what he said. "Hey!" He blinked as he heard an odd noise. It sounded like dainty snoring to his left. He looked over to see the very odd sight of Sakura sleeping while sitting up. Though it looked like her head was falling forward. "Sakura?"

"Why don't you put her to bed?" Kakashi stood up to get a drink, thinking hard. What would the Hokage think of this wrinkle?

Probably nothing good.

* * *

It was nearly a week since they had come to this land of isles and mist. The genin could now walk on water with almost as much ease as Kakashi himself could. He had them sparring and increasing their speed and strength. All of them were advancing quickly in skill.

In spite of himself, he was being impressed. He had heard that Naruto was a dead last in school, but he was a bit suspicious of that. The kid was bright and inventive, learning quickly. In fact, with his shadow clones, he was learning faster than anyone he had met. Sasuke seemed to be incredibly driven and luckily was more talented than Naruto when it came to taijitsu and ninjitsu. Sakura was the weakest of the team, but probably also one of the smartest. Her chakra reserve had almost doubled this week. But that, sadly, just meant that her Sharingan drained her in five minutes, not three. She had far less than half of Sasuke. Much less Naruto.

The jonin just shook his head in bemusement. He would be far less happy if he knew how often Naruto was using his clones.

Out in the woods, the last of a group of Naruto clones was sitting on the ground. He sat up as he saw a figure wearing a kimono gathering plants. "Um, hello?"

"Good morning. Were you out all night?" the long haired and effeminate boy said with a soft smile.

"Nah. Just got up really early to practice actually." And he was technically still practicing with the rest of his team, he believed. In actuality, the entire group was going to head to the bridge.

The two seemed to hit a resonating chord of sadness and caring. If only they could have cared about the same people. As soon as Haku left to take his medicinal herbs back to the nearly recovered Zabuza, the clone stood up to walk slowly through the forest for hours. It was later than he expected.

First Tazuna, then Inari and now Haku. Naruto was figuring out who was important to him. He was getting close when he heard yelling.

"I'll bite my tongue and kill myself! Please, take me, but leave my son!" Tsunami yelled out in her doorway, in the dire grip of two of Gato's thugs.

Gato's ronin sneered, but nodded. "Fine. You're lucky, kid. Why don't you run along before our good will departs. We only need one hostage for Gato."

The clone was thinking rapidly. He was only going to have one chance at this. He pulled out two kunai, then leaped to the attack. He stabbed both weapon into the chest of the larger ronin who was holding the mother.

Tsunami felt the bandit loosen its grip as something wet splashed on her. She turned around just it time to see him collapse.

"You brat! You killed Yuroki!" the surviving bandit said. He pulled out his trusty katana. "I'm going to kill you, you damn brat."

"Tsunami, grab Inari and run," Naruto yelled out as he held up his bloody kunai. He had to dodge any attacks.

The bandit's attack barely missed Naruto's ear, even as he retaliated with a kick to his knee. In the background, Tsunami ran around the corner of the house, calling for her son. "Inari!"

Naruto left a kunai in the bandit's thigh, but he fell prey to a feint and got a cut on his ear that dispelled the clone.

"What sort of crazy thing was that?" the bandit said. He grimaced as he saw the woman and her son dashing towards the village. The ninja's weapon had disappeared when he had, but that still left him hobbling after them. Gato was going to be so very angry.

Just before the bridge, the memories of his clone slammed into him. "Kakashi! Some thugs tried to kidnap Tsunami and Inari for Gato."

"Are they all right?" he asked even as Tazuna started to panic.

"Yeah, my clone killed one of them and wounded the other's leg so he shouldn't be able to catch up to them," Naruto said happily.

"So we should be ready. Naruto, make a few clones and send them down on the water to come up behind them," the jonin said. He waited for them to disappear over the edge. "Everyone else, weapons out. Tazuna, stay in the back with them."

So the sight of several of the workers that had been attacked was startling, but not as totally shocking as it could be. Sasuke and Naruto both activated their Sharingans at the sight of the blood though.

"So not only did you attack here, killing these men, but you are also kidnapping Tazuna's family," Kakashi said in a cold tone. He was very, very angry.

Zabuza looked a little confused. "What are you talking about? I don't need to kidnap anyone. I'll just kill you, then the old man and earn my money."

"Sir, Mr. Gato did not tell us of his own plans. But the only reason I can see for him to have tried to kidnap the woman and her son is that he feels we have already failed," the hunter in flowing robes next to the Missing Ninja said, his voice muffled and mysterious.

"Or he's going to make sure we failed. Probably shouldn't have let you break his bodyguard's wrist, kid." Zabuza was suddenly thinking very hard.

"Naruto, send some of your clones to recon," Kakashi suddenly ordered. "Zabuza... how about we have a small cease-fire for half an hour?"

Naruto created six clones and sent them off into the mists. Ten minutes later, he suddenly looked up. "There's about fifty guys off to the south. My clone heard them say they were planning on killing all of us after we fight each other."

"You are lying, kid," Zabuza said with incredible killing intensity, causing Naruto to actually wilt a second. "You managed to trick me with your fake death-"

"Hey! That really hurt! I almost died, jack ass!" he shouted right back.

The deadly Mist Ninja blinked at that. "Well, I was still paid to kill the old man. I don't back out of my promises."

"But if Gato betrays you, you won't get paid," Kakashi noted in a slightly smug tone.

"Hey, old guys! We can prove Gato is going to betray you, easy," Naruto said with a smirk.

All of the ninja looked at him, while Tazuna got worried at the blonde's maniacal look.

"This is going to be the best prank ever!"

* * *

The bandits standing off in the mist had been hearing explosions and the crash of water for quite a while. Metal had rung off of metal and screams had rent the air. Finally, it had all trailed off a bit.

"It's time, boys. Remember, who ever gets the killing blow on Zabuza will get an extra 10,000 Ryo!" Gato explained. He was a little worried at his two major warriors that had not showed up with his hostages, but he probably would not need them anyways.

The scene in front of them was horrific and mcabre. An auburn-haired girl stared into the sky with blank, unmoving mis-matched eyes with a kunai in her neck as two masked ninja dueled in blurs. Other figures lay on the ground in pools of blood as Tazuna crouched in fear with his back against a stack of stone blocks, blood seeping from wounds.

Zabuza charged at Kakashi as the other ninja stumbled backwards, half-falling behind a crate. With a might sweep of his huge sword, a spurt of blood covered that area. The dread Demon of the Mist looked little better. "What are you doing here, Gato? I just finished killing these Konoha scum." He looked over at Tazuna who was holding a blood covered hand to his chest. "Tazuna should be bleeding out in a just a moment. You've got my money, right?"

Gato had a smirk on his face as he looked at the wounded ninja. "Right. I have your payment _right_ here." With a snap of his fingers, he sent his miniature army against Zabuza. "See you in hell, Demon of the Mist." He settled himself to wait, both chubby hands on his cane.

"Well, what do you know? The brat was 100 % right. Hey kid, I accept your deal for that meal to work 'with' you here today," Zabuza said in perfect confidence.

The ghastly, cut up form of Naruto looked up. "Really? Way cool!" He bounced to his feet as his illusion dropped.

That stopped the forward advance of the bandits. "Um, what?" the lead tough said as he suddenly pivoted in case he had to fight the kid too. His girp on his sword was suddenly _very_ sweaty.

Suddenly, _all_ of the bodies were getting up as their wounds disappeared.

Kakashi's eye was crinkled up in humor as he stepped around the crate, totally unharmed. "It's always bad business to double cross your partner. It's _really_ stupid to do it to a powerful ninja," he espoused wisely.

"You lied to me!" Gato shouted in sudden fear.

"You were going to kill me. I say that means we are now enemies. Gato, prepare to die!" the Demon of the Mist said. In a blur, he appeared behind the criminal. With a sweep of the huge blade, the sun-glass wearing head went flying.

"Hey, you guys? I suggest you drop your weapons... and leave the Land of Waves," Naruto called out while pointing at them. "Otherwise, we'll have to kill you all."

"There's fifty of us. And only six of you," the lead tough said while sweating.

"Kage no Bunshin!" Naruto shouted as he made his hand seal. "And now there's two hundred of us. And fifty of you." There was a sea of blond hair behind the kid.

Haku and Zabuza both were looking at the kid like he was crazy. Those were not solid, were they? That would be at least special jonin level, not something a genin could even imagine.

The first bandit dropped his sword and dove into the inland sea, starting a mass panic.


	2. To be examined

Team 7 was there as the last bit of the huge bridge was being finished. Kakashi actually put away his little orange book and walked over to Tazuna. The old engineer perked up. "Well, it looks like I managed to build it after all these years. So you guys are headed out this morning?" the old man asked.

Kakashi nodded, looking down at the water's edge where his students were busy doing a three way spar on the surface of the water like it was old hat. In a flicker of motion, he suddenly had a kunai out and was standing behind Tazuna and a swirl of water droplets.

"You pass muster, I guess. You aren't as good as I thought your reputation said, but you are still good enough." Zabuza had a smirk under his mask. Next to him stood Haku looking rather ordinary in a standard kimono. "I want to hire your team, as you are headed to Konoha."

The Leaf jonin uncoiled. "Make the offer."

"I want you to deliver Haku to Konoha. He has a scroll to deliver to a certain someone that he will reveal then. I have just enough for a C Rank mission. I know it doesn't really cut it, but you are headed back that way." Zabuza turned his prodigy. "Haku, make sure you deliver the message to him in Konoha no matter what." With a negligent seeming toss, he threw a bag of coins to Kakashi. Then he disappeared in another swirl of water droplets.

"I shall strive to not be a bother, Mr. Hatake," Haku said softly.

"We were just about to leave anyways. Tazuna, let Inari and Tsunami know we have left. It's probably best this way," Kakashi said as he turned to the end of the bridge, only to see his three students fade out of the brush at the begining of the road. "You heard?"

"Yeah, we heard," Naruto called out loudly. "Guess we get to hang out some more? Huh, Haku?"

Haku smiled softly. "Indeed."

"You are strong, right?" Sasuke said in deep concentration.

"You can fight him at Konoha, not before. Right now, he's part of our new mission," Kakashi said.

Sasuke frowned, even as the other two genin chuckled at his discomposure. Haku did not seem to get it at first, then smiled.

Sakura looked at their Sasuke, then shook her head. Her dark blue eye and darkening green eye studied the heir of the Uchiha. "I think he's figured out your code phrase for 'you look interesting to fight,' Sasuke."

"Hnn." He could not really deny it.

"Let's move out," Kakashi ordered.

* * *

Days later, they were approaching the main north gate of the city. The chunin guards watched them in interest. "Picked up a stray, Hatake?" one of them called out.

"Just an improvised escort," he replied.

"Thank you for escorting, sir. If you could direct me to the Son of the White Fang... or someone that could help me find him, it would be appreciated," Haku said with a short bow.

Only the three genin caught Kakashi's slight pause, causing them to tense up in reaction.

"There's no need. I'm right here," the jonin finally said.

"Pardon? What do you mean?" the young traveler asked in sudden worry.

"The White Fang of Konoha... was my father," Kakashi replied distastefully.

"No." Haku's face had suddenly gone very, very pale. "I have to get back-"

Kakashi stopped Haku from departing by a tight grip on the shoulder. "Five minutes for me to read the scroll will not change what has already happened." He held out his other hand, which accepted the scroll mutely.

Haku seemed to almost wilt while waiting for the scroll to be read. "It... is not good, is it?"

"Zabuza says that he found out that the Hidden Village of the Mists sent out the Seven Swordsmen to hunt him down. It was Gatou's revenge from beyond the grave. He requests that you take refuge in Konoha. And that you live a full life," the jonin said while everyone at the gate listened raptly.

"Which of the Seven Swordsman?" Haku asked desperately.

"I'm sorry, let me clarify. _All_ of the Seven Swordsman were being sent after him. If he survives, he said that he will send a messenger."

The young teen's knees suddenly felt weak. "All of the Seven Swordsman?" Haku couldn't remember kneeling down.

Sasuke and Sakura nodded sadly even as Haku started to wail, tears running running down the overly young and effeminate face.

Naruto just looked confused. "I don't get it."

"Idiot. They are the elite of the elite of the Mist Ninja like the Twelve Guardians," Sakura snapped out. "All jonin that are personally loyal to the Mizukage. Zabuza is probably dead by now."

"Oh." Naruto had no idea how to deal with someone lost in grief like this. "We shouldn't leave Haku like this."

"Good. Then you just volunteered to take care of Haku. I'll report in to the Hokage and talk to you later," Kakashi said, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Ah, dammit!" Naruto shouted out.

"See you tomorrow, idiot." No way was Sasuke going to be saddled a crying wreck like that.

"Um, I have to get home. My parents are probably worried. See you Naruto," Sakura shouted as she ran off.

With a sigh, Naruto carefully picked up the lighter teen. "Well, I guess it's time to head back to my apartment."

* * *

Haku woke up the next morning to the sound of snoring off to the left of the lumpy mattress. "Naruto?"

"Wha-? Oh, hey Haku." Naruto sat up with a creak of pained muscles. "Oh, ouch." He pulled off his sleeping cap.

"You did not have to sleep on the floor," Haku said softly. A frown adorned the teen's face while looking around at the cramped apartment. "This is your place?"

"Yeah, not much to it, but its also cheap." Naruto stretched then pulled of his nighshirt and wandered over to the very small rest room. A few minutes later and he was starting to shower.

"Um, Naruto? You do realize your bathroom door is partially open?"

"Yeah, it's busted. Sorry. The building manager hates me." The boy looked incredibly groggy, which seemed so very strange compared to his normal, boisterous self as he scrubbed his scalp with shampoo.

Haku was severely blushing by the time Naruto was out.

"Bathroom's yours," he mumbled. Naruto started puttering in the kitchenette. Really, the only safe food was his ramen. With a sigh, he started making two bowls.

Haku came out about ten minutes later, looking uncomfortable. "Thank you for breakfast."

"Don't worry about it-!? I thought you said you were a boy?" Naruto asked as the undisguised figure sat across from him.

She was now wearing her kimono and it was obvious that she was in fact a she. "I lied a little bit. Zabuza always had me hide my gender, but I like to wear my pretty clothes. So I pretend I'm a cross-dressing boy to confuse people."

"Well, uhm, I guess," Naruto said as he patted the girl who was losing herself to her pain again. "Please don't cry."

That was when someone knocked on Naruto's door. The owner of the apartment stumbled over to it, opening to let in the rest of his team. "I'm not late, am I?" he asked in bewilderment.

Kakashi shook his head. "No, but we have a meeting with the Hokage in about an hour. All of us, including Haku."

Sakura and Sasuke had noted that Haku was not hiding her gender.

"Hnn." The last Uchiha knew this had to be Naruto's fault.

"So you are a girl," Sakura said to herself as she nodded her head in confirmation. "I thought my Sharingan was seeing that in your motions."

Their teacher blinked, then nodded. "You can train it to spot things like that. Very good, Sakura. You figured out something with your new eye before Naruto or Sasuke."

Now Sasuke was glaring at her, not just at Naruto.

"Haku, I would ask that you not mention anything about the Sharingan to anyone that is not in this room. It is very important." Kakashi was giving the girl a serious look.

"Yes, sir." Haku looked very small and wan today.

The five of them headed to the Hokage's Tower, the veritable fortress in the middle of Konoha. They were waved past security.

"Kakashi. What am I going to do with you?" the old man behind his desk said with a small smile. He turned his aged eyes upon Sakura. "Ms. Haruno? Show me your eye."

She complied, activating it (and getting two tomoe) then deactivating it quickly. "I can't keep it active too long, sir. I'm not strong enough."

"Amazing. Well, that is a tricky situation you've dumped on me, Team 7. Sakura, while I would love to make this an S-Rank secret, you are going to have to use that at some time. Try to not get caught before you are chunin though." The Hokage turned to Sasuke. "That might be a good time to adopt them into your clan, Elder of the Uchiha. While I can not order that, I can still suggest such things."

"Both of them?" Sasuke asked slowly.

"I don't think they would argue against it. And your clan needs rebuilding, does it not?" the old man said with a hard tone.

"Hnn." Now he was thinking about it."

"Haku of the Land of Water.... If you swear to not attack Konoha, I will let you stay within our village. I will not lie to you, your bloodline would be welcomed into the ranks of many that the Leaf calls its own, but we will not demand that of you. You would find yourself within good company, as there are over thirty bloodlines that are tracked here. Even if the Haruno one has not been seen in decades," he said with a small smile to Sakura.

"I swear." She had nowhere to go, after all.

"Haruno? My father never mentioned that," Sakura said in surprise.

"I'm not surprised, it is mostly a mental discipline. Haku, Konoha can not take you in as a ninja for the time, but in six months you can apply." The Hokage looked them for a while. "You are dismissed. I believe the mission room will open in ten minutes."

They trooped outside, Haku at the back thinking dark, morose thoughts.

"So, um, Haku, you can stay at my place until, well, you don't need to," Naruto offered with a nervous smile. "It's not much of a place, but it's better than the street."

"You are too nice, Naruto." The girl sounded quite sad.

Sakura was looking at the young blond in deep thought. He really had a lot more depth than anyone would have expected.

"Hnn." Sasuke seemed lost in his own deep thought.

"Haku, I'm afraid you will have to go back to Naruto's place for a bit. We do have a mission to do today," Kakashi said authoritatively.

She nodded and headed back.

This morning was a weeding job for a farmer, as his family was sick with food poisoning.

"We're going to be at it all day. This sucks," Naruto exclaimed. He started to pull everything that looked like a weed.

"Naruto! Those aren't weeds!" Sakura shouted. Her left eye was sharp enough to spot him doing that from thirty feet away.

"Really? Can you show me?"

Sasuke was just going to ignore him, but reached into the small pile of discarded plants. "These are herbs, dumbass."

"Oh, sorry. Still going to take all day."

Sakura gave both boys a smirk, while she made a hand sign. With a pop, a second Sakura appeared. "It's not like we don't know any techniques to multiply ourselves or something."

Sasuke was wanting to smack his forehead like Naruto was doing.

"Here I come! Super special version just for Sakura!" the over-active ninja shouted. "Remember, only the weeds, guys!"

Kakashi blinked as Naruto created over six hundred clones. "Don't over do it, Naruto."

Sasuke created six himself, which left him very tired. Why could the idiot make so many clones? What was his power?

"No problem, teacher! I can keep this up for hours."

The job was finished in only an hour with all the help, even if the Sakura and Sasuke clones had to yell at the Naruto clones to not pull up herbs or edible roots. Even the owner of the farm was mostly happy as Naruto dispelled all of his clones.

"Say, Sakura, can I take your clone on a date? It's good endurance training for you!" Naruto wheedled.

"Fine. Fine." Strangely, her inner self did not say anything. Which was an odd thing by itself.

"Let's go, Naruto!" Sakura's boisterous clone called out, dragging the real Naruto off.

"Say, Sasuke? How about a real date?" the original Sakura asked.

Sasuke turned down the real Sakura without a thought, taking off with his clones for some training. No way was he going to be worse at something than Naruto.

* * *

"So what are we going to do? It better be something cool," the clone of Sakura asked while bopping the real Naruto on his head.

"Um, what do you want to do? I've never been on a date before." Truthfully, Naruto had never thought he would convince her to go along with it. "What do you like to do?"

Go out with Sasuke, but she managed to just barely not say that. She was not that uncultured. "Well, I like to go to the library, but that's not something you go on a date. How about you buy me something on the market street?"

"Sure, but please don't ask for anything too expensive. I think I'm feeding two people now," Naruto said as he made a reference to his new house guest.

"Yeah! That was very nice of you!" Sakura exclaimed. "You have a big heart!"

"Are you feeling all right, Sakura?" the boy asked as he trotted along with the girl.

"Never better! It feels like I've been freed!"

After about an hour, Sakura let the boy buy her a small flower as they finished looking in the windows. The very smart girl was frowning, as she'd seen several glares and they had actually been blocked from entering two stores. "Grr. What a bunch of jerks. They don't know you at all," she said as they walked back to Naruto's house.

"Thanks, Sakura. I'm glad you don't hate me for... you know." Naruto gave her a pained smile. "Would you like some tea? I think I still have some."

"Sure." The clone was quite interested to find out if she could actually drink anything.

Naruto opened the door to his little apartment, finding it incredibly tidied up. "Um, wow. You didn't have to do that, Haku."

Haku looked up from where she was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor. "It did not take a long time. And you have been very kind to me." She tried to smile.

Naruto went over to the kitchenette and started opening a cupboard to look for his tea.

"How are you doing, Haku?" Sakura said in a friendly tone. "You know, I think the Yamanaka flower shop might needs some part time help, now that Ino is a genin."

"Really? I really don't know flowers, but I do know some herbs for healing," the dark-haired kunoichi said.

"You had probably not mention where you are staying. Ino's mom really doesn't like me," Naruto said as he tried to find three tea cups while the water for tea was on his little stove.

"And that's not fair!" Sakura said loudly. "They should be, uh, yeah. Not supposed to talk about that. Sorry." Naruto was actually glaring at her from the kitchen.

"What are you referring to?" the girl from the Land of Water asked.

"It's a big secret, Haku. But all you need to know is that a lot of people her in Konoha don't like me at all." Naruto shrugged to show it was no big deal.

All of a sudden, the Sakura clone popped out of existence surprising Haku and Naruto.

"Dang, guess she passed out," Naruto said in obvious frustration. He made a clone and handed it Sakura's flower. "Go take that to Sakura's house and make sure she's all right. Then pop yourself." The clone gave a thumb's up and ran out the door.

"You know, Naruto, most people don't use that powerful of a technique as a messenger," Haku said as she took the cup of tea from the boy. "But you aren't exactly the most standard ninja, are you?" She smiled to remove the sting from her comment. "Would you show me this flower shop later?"

"Well, we'll have to sneak over there so Ino's mom doesn't see me, but sure."

"Naruto, she's not a ninja, is she?" Haku sighed when Naruto shook his head in confusion. "You _are_ ninja. Just turn yourself into a villager and no one will know anything."

"Oh. OH! I'm so stupid. I should have thought of that myself." He gave her a cheesy smile. Heck, he could do that at a lot of shops.

Ten minutes later, Naruto and Haku were walking. Lacking for any better idea, he had turned into a teen that he remembered seeing in the Land of Waves. So all anyone saw walking down the street was two girls.

Haku was actually very happy after she talked to the owner of the flower shop. "She said she could use someone at least part time. I'm to come by at noon every day and work at least an hour."

They started walking home, when Haku steered them into a small market and picked up some supplies. She paid for everything quite quickly and Naruto was surprised at the costs.

"That's really cheap. I usually pay twice as much," he exclaimed in awe, still in his disguise.

"Then it is good they did not know it was you. This is the normal price," Haku noted dryly.

* * *

Sakura was dead tired after their latest mission, though happy with her chakra control and how much stamina she was developing. She had created two clones this time to help with picking up garbage in the stream. "Sasuke, how about a date today?" she asked after Kakashi had departed. He had spotted a falcon in the sky.

"Sorry, I refuse," he said immediately, crushing her hopes. He turned and walked off to his home.

Naruto started to open his mouth to ask her on a date, but stopped as he saw her droop in despair. "Um, say, Sakura? I can walk you home?"

She glared at him for a long moment, then decided that his offer was not too forward. "I guess."

Both of the ninja blinked as they saw a large box, painted crudely to look like a rock. Naruto just groaned as he realized who it probably was.

Konohamaru unveiled his Konohamaru Korps, much to his aggravation (and a bit too much gunpowder). His two friends had been sucked into his competition.

"You're going to play ninja with us, right?" Konohamaru asked with a huge grin. Then he spotted the auburn-dyed girl next to Naruto. "Say, bro, is this your, um..." He twirled his finger to show that they were together.

"Well, not really. Well, yet." Naruto was suddenly thumped to the ground.

"We are not together!" she shouted at him while grinding her heel into his back.

"But we did that one date," the boy whined under her foot.

Sakura was blushing incredibly at that. "It was just a clone. For training."

"Naruto sitting under a tree with a girl-!? Uh oh, Konohamaru Korps! RETREAT!" their leader shouted, sending the trio of younger kids running down the street.

"Come back here!" Sakura shouted, in full anger mode as she chased them.

Konohamaru slammed into a strangely garbed teen as he rounded a corner. The teen was totally covered in black except his kabuki-painted face. On his back he carried a bundle. "Watch it, brat." He snagged the much smaller boy and lifted him off his feet.

"Hey! Let me go!" the youngest Saratobi shouted.

"Little twerps like you are the worst. I should just beat you within an inch of death. Maybe that'll teach you to run into scary ninja," the older teen said with a sneer.

So he was quite surprised when a fist grabbed his forearm in a painful grip. Naruto's eyes were narrowed, flickering red as he fought to not activate his Sharingan in anger. "Why don't we all calm down before _someone_ gets hurt."

The teen-aged girl slightly behind the dark-garbed teen was startled at that. She reached for her folded up fan, only to find a kunai poking her back as someone held her arm to the the fan, but kept it from moving. "We certainly wouldn't want someone hurt, after all," Sakura said in a cool voice, her left eye activating for a second then returning to its dark-blue normal state.

"Um, right. Kankuro, you idiot. What do you think Gaara is going to do to you?" the older blonde girl said to the Sand Ninja that was facing off against Naruto.

"He's not here-" Kankuro started to say.

"Shut up. Or I'll kill you," a pitiless voice said from under a tree branch. The young red-head was standing under the branch as if it were perfectly normal to ignore gravity. Across his back was a huge gourd that was stoppered up.

"What are you three doing in our village?" came a voice just on the other side of the tree. Sasuke was casually standing on a branch with three large pebbles. "Ninja from other villages are not allowed."

"What are you, idiots? We're here for the chunin exam," Kankuro exclaimed slightly nervously. "Temari, I thought you had heard that the Leaf were weak... -er than this."

"Somehow, I don't think these three are normal," the girl with the war fan said as Sakura let her go and moved over to the three academy kids.

"You three head on home, okay?" Sakura said, patting Konohamaru on his head.

"Sure thing, sis! Treat my rival right!" the young Saratobi said with a cheesy grin.

"Brat!" Sakura shouted at the retreating students.

Naruto was studying this Gaara closely. He seemed to terrify his team to a great degree. "That must really hurt your teamwork," he said casually.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"

Sasuke hopped to the ground. "If you can't see it, then you have no idea. Come on, guys."

* * *

"Kakashi!" Sakura called out with a wave where Team 7 was sitting on the middle of a bridge waiting for their team leader. "What sort of training do we have today?" She wanted to be able use her Sharingan more and become more powerful.

"I have this for you," their jonin said, holding up three sheets of paper.

"The chunin exam," Naruto breathed out as his sharp eyes took in the forms. "You are entering us?"

"That's right. You just have to turn in your applications. You need to do it a little early, so that you can discuss this with the Hokage," Kakashi said calmly. "So try to have it done before Friday when it is due."

"We can go right now," Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke was looking over the papers. "We could," he admitted. He looked over at their last team mate, seeing her deactivate her Sharingan. She must have used it to memorize the contract.

"I-" Sakura stopped, trying to figure out why she was hesitant. "Give me a minute to think." Did she have a good reason not to enter. _'No! Let's do it and show off how much we've improved!'_ her inner Sakura shouted. _'Cha cha!'_

They had been walking off the bridge when she decided. Both boys turned to her as her whole stance turned aggressive. "Decided?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. Let's go!" She took off running down the road to head to the Academy.

Three chunin were surprised when Team 7 showed up so early. "What are you brats doing here?" the left one asked suspiciously.

"We're here to enter the chunin exam!" Naruto exclaimed. "Then we have to go talk to the Hokage about it." He was almost bouncing on his feet he was so excited.

"The Hokage wants to talk to you about you entering the chunin exam?" the right chunin asked suspiciously.

"Probably because of me," Sasuke said while smirking.

The two chunin shared a strained look, then nodded. "Fine, get on with it."

They handed in their forms in and discovered that it was required to join as a team.

"Huh. Wonder why Kakashi didn't mention that?" Naruto asked as he started thinking hard on it.

"Maybe he wanted us to make the decision on our own? To have our own reason to take the exam," Sakura decided. "Well, let's head to the Hokage's Tower."

Sasuke nodded in agreement.

Half an hour later, they were sitting in the foyer under the watchful eye of a chunin secretary. He looked up and at the door. "The Hokage will see you now."

Hiruzen Saratobi was puffing a pipe behind his desk as he tilted back his hat of office. His old eyes watched them closely. "Well, your jonin teacher entered you into the exam. Most likely, you will be forced to use your Sharingan. This is to be expected, if not exactly wanted."

"You mean about Naruto and I, don't you? Is it because of... that with Naruto? And I'll just be like Kakashi, with a transplanted Sharingan," Sakura said as she thought carefully.

"Exactly. So, Sasuke Uchiha, have you made your decision?" the Third Hokage asked.

"Yes, sir. I would like to have them join the Uchiha to protect them against interests within Konoha," Sasuke said. "If they want to, of course." He looked over at his two team mates.

"My father is going to be upset, but I think he will understand," Sakura said.

"You're family. That's enough," Naruto explained as if it were just that simple.

"Here's the paperwork. I suggest you work on a cover story for Sakura's Sharingan. Perhaps a secret clan technique to make sure that the eye will not die out," the Hokage said.

"It did not use to be, but now it is. Well, as long as Naruto is around," the dark-haired boy explained with a smirk as the two filled in their names, then let him sign his clan symbol to it.

"Hehe!" Naruto laughed out with a huge smile.

"Very well. I have some council preparations to have in place when this bombshell hits," the old man said, looking every one of his years old.

"You guys want to come over? I think Haku wanted to thank you guys with a dinner. She really cooks very well," Naruto said as they walked out.

"Hnn. Okay." It would save him from ordering out, Sasuke thought to himself.

Sakura looked around and did not see anyone around them in the corridor. "Clan meeting time, eh?"

Naruto rushed home to help Haku with the preparations. His little table would barely fit all four of them and he wanted to host everything perfectly. The four of them were sitting around when Haku stood and then served them from a sake bottle.

"Can we drink?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"Dummy. We're ninja. Once we get these," Sasuke tapped his Leaf Ninja symbol on his forehead, "we became adults."

"Huh. Guess you are right. So, should we be doing team training tomorrow?" the blonde asked.

"We probably should. It looks like at least part of the exam is all team oriented," Sakura noted as she carefully sipped the steaming alcohol.

* * *

Sakura woke up feeling sick and in pain. Everything looked too bright and there was the sound of snoring under her nose. Somehow she had ended up cuddled up with Naruto on the floor. Wiggling free, she took stock of herself. All of her clothing was mostly in place and her weapons piled neatly next to the door. So probably not much happened.

She did not know if she was disappointed or happy with that thought. She staggered to the bathroom and rinsed her mouth out. Her mother was going to kill her. Except she was now a Uchiha, not a Haruno.

"Hahahaha!" Naruto had started laughing very loudly.

Looking over, she realized what was funny, as somehow Haku and Sasuke had ended up in the only bed. Nothing appeared to have happened, other than they were waking up in a funny, compromising situation as they were hugging each other.

"Dummy," Sasuke rasped as he quickly extracted himself.. "Why can't I remember what happened last night?"

"We got very drunk and now we are very hung over," the long haired girl said as she righted her kimono. "I think a light breakfast is in order. Of soup and bread."

After the much subdued breakfast, the three genin of Team 7 started to plan their day. Sakura was the first to bring up any ideas. "So group combat training? I don't think practicing against the other genin teams would be a smart move."

"We should see if there are any chunin teams we could learn from." Sasuke was putting his full mind to the task. He frowned as he realized something in his attitude had changed. His eyes darted left and right to take in his team mates separately. Was it because they also had his Sharingan eyes? That he would have to work smarter and harder, not just depend on the quality of the supernatural bloodline limit? Or was it that they were going to be Uchiha... family?

"How are we going to do that?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"This is where you team leader will need to be consulted," Haku said to the team with a soft smile. "I'm sure Kakashi will know someone that you will be able to speak with."

"We could also ask Iruka. He's a chunin and maybe he knows a chunin team that we can work with," Sakura noted aloud.

"Great ideas, you two! Thanks, Haku. You'll be working at the flower shop this afternoon, right?" the demon container asked with a huge grin.

Team 7 headed off to the Academy to quickly track down their old teacher before his classes.

"Teacher!" Naruto bellowed to Iruka as he was trotted up to the school.

"Why hello you three. It's a bit early for ramen today, Naruto." Iruka patted the blonde on his head.

"We aren't here for ramen. We want to train with a team of chunin for the exam," the boy replied.

Iruka frowned, but nodded anyways. "Yes, I heard your team leader entered you."

"Yeah, we're strong but we want to do our best," Naruto explained.

"And to do that, teacher, we need to train as if we were fighting chunin," Sakura said with a soft smile.

"Hnn." Sasuke wanted to not be ignored, but did not want to explain what they were doing.

"That's very... innovative. Most chunin are busy on their missions or duties, but perhaps I could get a few of us around this afternoon at training ground eleven," the older ninja said, his face grinning quite at odds with his old scars.

"We'll see you after school, teacher!" Naruto shouted.

* * *

Iruka was looking down at the three genin sitting and talking quietly under the trees of training ground eleven. "Hmm."

His two friends shook their heads. "They aren't ready if this is how they act. We'll take them out and send them back to Kakashi with instructions to drop out." That chunin was wearing a lot of bandages to hide the many scars he'd taken from all of his dangerous missions.

The last chunin, a serious sort wearing dark sunglasses and a trenchcoat nodded. "He's right. Let's do this."

Iruka wouldn't complain if that happened.

With speed that the genin could not match, the three chunin attacked. The bandage wearing chunin folded over Sasuke with a gut-punch, only for the 'last Uchiha' to disappear in a puff of smoke. "Physical clones?" he blurted out in surprise. That was something he couldn't even do.

The two other clones disappeared from the ambushers' attacks.

"Heh. Looks like you were right, Sakura. Look like a fool and set a trap," Sasuke said as they leaped out of the bushes, then took in a huge breath while making handseals. With a woosh, he sent out a huge fireball that was more scary than hot. These were allies, after all.

"Kage no Bunshin!" Naruto shouted as he made a dozen clones. Each of them unleashed a breath of fire like streams of napalm. While much smaller than Sasuke's 'grand fireball' they were a threat that blocked the chunin from charging back at them.

"These kids are serious," the trench-coated chunin called out.

Sakura unleashed her genjitsu, accidentally pushing a bit of power into her Sharingan. But to the bandage wearing chunin, it looked like she had ignited him. Screaming, he started to roll on the ground and then into one of Naruto's flames. The real damage broke the genjitsu, but left him really on fire.

"Okay, time out," Iruka shouted. "Someone put out Goka before he gets seriously burned."

The genin backed off as the trench-coat wearing chunin buried his friend to put out the fire.

"You could have just doused me with water," the burned chunin shouted as he dug himself up.

"You know I only do earth jitsu, dumb ass," was the barbed reply.

"Well, that was exciting. It appears you guys really have become strong. When I heard that you were going to be in the exam, I was worried." Iruka smiled at them to let them know he had no hard feelings. "Guess I have egg on my face. You guys are going to do great."

"While we can't let you know what you are going to be up against, training you against a team like us is not against any rules," the chunin with sunglasses explained. "Get ready to be worked hard."

The three genin just smirked at that. That's what they wanted.

* * *

It was Friday and Team 7 was headed to the first part of the chunin exam. Everyone was filling up the hallway as some sort of confrontation was taking place. Even without activation, the Sharingan let them see through the illusion masking the sign for the 'entrance'.

"Nice genjitsu," Sasuke said. "But can you get out of the way so we can get to the real third floor?"

All of the genin in the hall looked at the sign, just before the illusion dropped. It wavered from the numbers 302 to 202.

"This was the wrong floor?"

"Hey! What's the big deal and telling all these losers?" one of the tough looking ninja that had been blocking the way.

"So this is an unofficial test? Then I guess we pass," Sakura said with a too sweet smile.

The bigger, tougher looking genin lashed out a kick which was suddenly blocked by the beaten looking boy with the bowl haircut. He had even caught Sakura's arm that was holding a kunai.

"That's enough," a slightly older Hyuga said. "You've had your fun."

"Lee! What happened to the plan?" a girl with her hair up in small buns complained.

"Sorry, it's just this vision of loveliness overcame my sense of decorum! I am Rock Lee. Girl in red, will you go out with me?" he asked in an over the top way.

"Um, I'm not really looking for a boyfriend right now." Sakura stepped back slightly. _'Yeah, we already have two love interests!'_ Sakura tried to beat down that voice mentally.

That was when Lee spotted Sasuke. "You're the last Uchiha. The rookie of this year. I want to fight you," the green-tights wearing genin called out.

"Maybe later. I'm sure there's some combat in this exam," Sasuke said with a grim smile. "But we need to get to the first part of the exam. Come on, guys."

"Did you see his bandages?" Naruto said as they walked off. "He looks like he trains really hard."

* * *

The room was absolutely packed with genin. Almost all of them were older than Team 7. In fact, the only ones that were not older than them by at least six months was Team 8 and Team 10.

"Oh, this will be troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled from his seat. "Your team leader entered you guys too?" Team 7 looked far too professional in his opinion.

"Sasuke!" Ino screeched, launching herself at the Uchiha heir. "I'll take you away from this ugly hag! Eh, Sakura?" She had a huge grin on her face. "After all, only old women dye their hair."

"Hag? Ino-piggy, I should rearrange your face for that," Sakura snapped out. "I'm only two months older than you!"

Choji blinked at the auburn-haired girl. With the darker style and dyed hair, he had not recognized her. "What happened to your eyes?"

"A battle wound. It's all better," the kunoichi of Team 7 said quickly.

"Naruto also?" the timid and mild Hyuga heiress called out. Hinata Hyuga was twiddling her thumbs as she tried to consider things.

"Man, I guess that Sasuke was able to pull up that loser," Kiba Inuzaka said derisively.

"That loser is on my team," Sasuke said coldly. "And is ten times the ninja you are." Ever since he had found out Naruto was his cousin, he had a love-hate relationship with the loudmouth. But no one would ever badmouth a Uchiha if he could help it.

"Yeah!" Sakura suddenly flipped Ino to the ground but in a way that let Ino catch her feet.

"You brats... Are you trying to get everyone angry enough to kill you?" one of the older genin shouted.

A bespectacled genin, only four years their senior, walked over. "It's probably not a good idea to antagonize them," he said with a grin. He was a Leaf Ninja by his head protector.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi. This test is a lot harder than you kids know. I can't believe your jonin team leader agreed to send you all in," he admitted.

"So you've taken this test before?" Sakura asked, eyes wide in surprise. Testing had never been something she really did bad in.

"Actually, I've taken it seven times," Kabuto said with a nervous seeming laugh. "I've gathered a lot of information."

"Man, we should probably just do the opposite of whatever he does then," Kiba exclaimed. "He's a loser."

Naruto scrunched his dark eyes almost closed even as he slipped his goggles over his eyes. "Wow, never thought that would happen. I agree with Kiba."

"Hey!" the slighted boy shouted, even as his puppy growled at Naruto.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What information do you have on Gaara of the Sand, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee and myself?"

"And yourself?" Kabuto asked.

"It will be to see how accurate your information is," the dark-haired boy said with a smirk.

"That's actually pretty wise," the spy for the Village of Sound said. He revealed his 'Ninja Cards' that requires his chakra to use. His information on Gaara was quite surprising; high level and dangerous missions but never injured. Rock Lee was listed a taijitsu only, but very strong. Neji was listed as his years strongest rookie; said to be a genius of the Byakugen. "And yourself, Sasuke Uchiha. Also graduated the strongest rookie of the year. You already have an A-Rank mission?"

"Yeah, Zabuza Mamoto really hits hard too," Naruto complained.

Kabuto could not help himself as his jaw dropped. "You guys fought one of the Seven Swordsman? And _lived?_"

"You bet! We're really strong!" Naruto boasted even as he felt the eyes of the room fall on him. "Just you watch! We're going to pass this exam no matter what!" he almost bellowed, pointing his finger at them all.

"Naruto! You idiot! Are you trying to antagonize them all?" Sakura shouted in his ear. She then thumped him on top of his head for good measure.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, then frowned as it looked like Sasuke actually smirked at Naruto's comment.

The sudden confrontation between a band of Sound Ninja and Kabuto was scary for most of the Leaf Ninja, but it was only Naruto who, with his hidden and active Sharingan, noted that Kabuto did something with his chakra around his ears. Had he healed himself that quickly? It was actually kind of similar to what happened in his own limbs when they were hurt, something he had accidentally noted while seeing his fast healing in action. He had been very curious after nearly dying at Zabuza's hand.

"All right! Shut up and sit down unless you all want to be disqualified right now," a serious looking jonin called out. He was Morino Ibiki , a special jonin of Interrogation with the ANBU. "Anyone fighting before we tell you to _will_ be disqualified."

He had them all sit down to start a test with nine answers, warning them that cheating five time would fail them for sure. Naruto cursed as he was put on the front row. Even if he wanted to cheat with his Sharingan, there was no way he was going to be able to do that without getting caught.

Then he looked at the actual questions and almost panicked. He could answer exactly one of these questions, even with having used his Sharingan back in the Academy to memorize some of his book work. There had to be a way to use his Sharingan. Didn't there?

That was when the first team was disqualified, amping up the tension horribly. Naruto started sweating. Maybe he should work on his gathering information skills in the future? But even when Hinata Hyuga offered to let him cheat, he shook his head. No way was he going to get his team disqualified. Each of the remaining ninja managed to figure out a way to cheat... except Naruto.

Minutes ticked by and then the Proctor for the exam shouted out, "All right, it is time for the last question." Morino then explained the 'question of desperation' and that if they failed to answer this question, he would ban them from becoming chunin forever.

Naruto, after the tension rose (and coincidentally, just before Hinata could bow out) suddenly stood up and slammed his palm down. "No way in hell am I going to quit! Even if I'm always a genin, I'll still become Hokage! That's my ninja honor!"

Suddenly, all of the remaining genin could _not_ back down. If that stupid idiot was willing to put his whole career on the line, they could not back out.

The wait dragged out another thirty seconds as Morino looked around. "Then you all pass." The special jonin explained that sometimes taking on missions where the chance of failure was death required a strong will. Then he explained the importance of gathering information, as he removed his head covering, to show the horrific scars on his head.

He was almost finished when suddenly a figure appeared, smashing through the window and setting up a banner with a name on it. "Anko Mitarashi, arriving! Ibiki, what the hell are you doing? There's tons of them still?" she complained as she stood in front of her banner.

"There's a lot of good ninja this time," the older man said with a half-smile.

"Well, by the time I'm done, there'll be less than half. I promise that. All right you guys, head on over to the Training Ground known as the Forest of Death!" Anko shouted dramatically.

* * *

Anko was quite the character as the genin teams all met up outside the fenced off forest. With her overboard theatrics and requirement to sign a waiver absolving the Proctors if they died, the tension was quite fierce. Naruot reacted normally, shouting right back at her which got Anko to try and cut him (he had actually dodged it) and a short confrontation between the Proctor, Naruto and a strange Rain Ninja.

"You just had to open your mouth?" Sakura griped at them as they walked to their gate after getting their scroll.

Sasuke had set the scroll somehow in one of his hidden pouches. "Shall we pretend to be bumbling genin with some clones?"

"I'm still not that good at the clones," the auburn-dyed girl muttered.

"Don't worry, I'll make clones of us all. I'll just have two of them transform into you guys," Naruto said with a grin.

"Which reminds me, the Uchiha have a way of signaling each other. Activate your Sharingan and watch my hands." Sasuke held up both hands, making a few hand signs with his right hand. "But it's all in the the flow of chakra in your left hand. Let's use thumb, forefinger and pinkie for now."

They nodded, though Sakura frowned. "Can the Hyuga do this too?"

"Yes, but I doubt Hinata or that Neji will bother being that sneaky," the Uchiha heir said with a smirk. "They'll probably just trust in their eyes to attack instead of trying to trick us."

They had arrived at the gate, out of sight of the rest of the genin. At the top of the hour, they all entered.

One hour later, a Mist Ninja attempted to catch them off guard, shadowing their oblivious-seeming clones through the trees. He barely had a moment's warning before he was triple-teamed into unconsciousness.

"He doesn't have his team's scroll. And I doubt we could convince him to lead us back," Sasuke complained after they had searched the knocked out Ninja.

"Yeah, but he'll probably head back to them once he 'escapes'," Naruto said with a cheesy smile. He took three kunai from the ninja and looked them over, handing one to each. He then made a clone that immediately transformed into a kunai.

Sasuke immediately saw what he was doing. "Not a bad plan, dummy." He had his trademark smirk on his face. He and Sakura immediately made their own clones.

Sakura and Naruto tied the Mist Ninja up, but not tight enough he could not escape. They then disappeared upwards into the trees while their original clone-party moved off conspicuously.

When their captive escaped and headed back, they followed him quite easily higher up in the trees but out of sight.

"What happened?" his two other team mates asked about ten minutes later, as they were pretty close. They were skulking around near a stream and some bushes.

"I'm not sure, but I think those three are tougher than they look. I didn't even see them move before they took me out," the roughed up scout admitted. "We should probably try one of the other rookie genin teams from Leaf first."

That was when the third member, the girl with a full goggles and snorkel outfit was suddenly buried up to her neck in the dirt. "What the heck?" she cried out, trying to wiggle loose.

The Mist Ninja scout pulled out two kunai, spinning around to only be surprised when Sakura and Sasuke poofed out of their henge and with their hands on his arms, dragged him over to smash him and his last member into a tree with stunning force. Each of the Leaf genins then knocked out the momentarily stunned Mist ninja with brutally-strong punches to their face.

"Holy Gods of the Seas!? How the heck did you guys do that?" the young teen girl from the Land of Water asked.

That was when the real Sasuke and Sakura landed on the ground from the trees up above and Naruto burrowed from right next to her where their clones were standing around. The goggle-wearing boy had a huge smile on his face. "I told you guys we were going to win this exam! Let's get that scroll."

Sasuke had a very, very big grin that he had never shown before. "This is it. Shall we move out to the tower?"

"Can you keep your eyes active for an hour, Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"No, but you both can, I'm sure." Sakura dispelled her clone to get some of her strength back. "I'll just have to keep my eyes open normally."

Naruto created a second clone and had it change into Sakura. "Okay you two, follow that Sasuke there to the tower. Try to die loudly."

"You guys can all create solid clones? That's like high level chunin or low level jonin techniques," the female Mist Ninja exclaimed in surprise. "You guys really are-"

"Your guys should wake up before any of the slugs get you, but I wouldn't yell too loudly. You never know who or what might hear you," Sasuke said grimly.

The real Team 7 moved up into the trees, following their fast moving clones with the two boys activating their Sharingan. In only three more hours and one sacrifice of their clones against some Waterfall Ninja, they entered the main room from the outside and looked around. It was mostly ruined, but almost clean at the floor level. A saying was carved in the wall, notably misisng some words.

"Now what do we do?" Naruto asked.

"There's no one here. Perhaps were are supposed to open both scrolls now?" the kunoichi decided after some consideration.

Sasuke shrugged, opening both scrolls. They started to smoke, prompting them to drop them and back up with kunai pulled out.

A chunin from Konoha that appeared blinked at the combat ready genin. "You made it here already? You guys sure are fast. Well, it's my pleasure to announce that you succeeded and made it to the next challenge." He then explained the saying on the wall and how it related to the Earth and Heaven scrolls they had been tasked to find.

"Well, you guys have until at least the fifth day to hang out." With that, the chunin led them through a secret passage and deeper into the tower.

Iruka looked up from where he was talking with several chunin and jonin. "See, here they are. You guys managed something amazing. The only people that made it here faster than you were Team Baki from the Land of Sand. They got here an hour ago."

"I didn't think it was a race. Should we have tried to get here faster?" Naruto asked his team mates.

"Eh, I don't think its a big deal," their auburn-dyed girl teammate said with a shrug. "Where are we going to stay?"

The chunin laughed and sent them to a room, right next to Kakashi's. He just gave them a wink as he passed them.

Down the hall, Gaara of the Sand looked at the three Leaf Genin, frowning as he realized they made it to the prize almost as quickly as his team had. "Are they strong?" he asked aloud.

"I think they are," Temari said as she considered the younger team. "Rookies like that... they must have done some amazing training."

"We can still defeat them easily-" the face-painted Kankuro boasted, only to be cut off by the youngest member.

"Shut up or I'll kill you. You don't know anything about them. They are my prey," the red-head said in a grim tone.

That caused both of the older Sand Ninja to shudder.

It was late that night that Naruto was startled awake as his last three clones were suddenly dispelled by some massive wind ninjitsu. "Whoa, that was freaky. A whole days worth of sneaking around. Three times." Luckily the memories were mostly identical, so he did not have much of a headache. "That was a powerful attack. I wonder who is that powerful?"

Out in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru snarled under his Grass Ninja genin's guise. He would have to search the forest more thoroughly for Sasuke Uchiha. By the end of the night and with ANBU scouring the area, he had to retreat. Resuming his guise as a jonin leader of another team, he was incredibly upset to find them resting comfortably in the tower with their team leader.

* * *

They spent the next three days 'training' though really, they just traded ninjitsu techniques. Sasuke thought that earth burrowing technique a useful surprise attack, while Naruto finally got to see the Uchiha specialty of the Phoenix Grand Fireball. Strangely, he was not able to get that nearly as strong as Sasuke.

"You probably are not Fire elemental. It probably isn't a primary element, anyways," Sakura said while watching them at times. She had copied the ninjitsu and even some of their fighting techniques, but she did not think she could use them until she became stronger. She and Sasuke were both quite tired.

"Huh?" Naruto said "Primary element?"

"Let's keep in mind Naruto is not a great thinker unless it comes to pranks, Sakura," Sasuke commented with a small smirk. "Well... and while fighting." He was almost panting after his last use of the burrowing jitsu.

"I don't know how you do it, Naruto. I mean, I can _see_ with my Sharingan that Sasuke is tired and out of chakra. How can you still have so much?" she complained to the blonde.

"Hehe. I've always had a lot of chakra," he admitted.

"You three should rest up tonight," Kakashi said while he read his book. "Tomorrow... might be a busy day."

The next day they were all summoned to a large, vaulted room with a balcony overlooking a massive and forbidding statue. Ino, Choji and Shikamaru of Team 10 and Shino, Hinata and Kima of Team 8 were there, though Team 10 looked far worse off. It appeared they had barely gotten to the tower just under the wire.

The Hokage and the Proctor of the exam congratulated them all on their performance, even as they informed all of the genin that unfortunately they would have to fight a ninja duel today. There were too many people that passed the second exam and so there would be too many battles in the third if this were allowed. So there was going to be a preliminary round of battle to weed out half their numbers.

That was when Kabuto Yakushi stepped up. "I'm too beat up to continue."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto shouted out in sudden frustration.

"My ear is still bothering me from the first exam and I'm out of chakra," he told everyone with a small shrug.

"What? You healed your ear almost as soon as you got hurt!" Naruto exclaimed angrily. Why was Kabuto lying and not trying for the next level?

Most of the other genin frowned at that.

"You must be mistaken," Kabuto said, hiding his nervousness.

Sakura, who happened to be standing between Sasuke and Hinata Hyuga, whispered over to Sasuke, "Check his chakra." Her own Sharingan had whirled to life.

"Byakugen," Hinata whispered, activating her eye technique. "He is not chakra exhausted?" As she watched, his chakra levels suddenly lowered, much to her amazement.

Her cousin Neji snorted from behin her. "Your weak eyes are being decieved, Hinata," he whispered just a little too loudly and angrily. "You should not waste your strength."

The Third Hokage's eyes were narrowed as he saw out of the corner of his eyes Sharingan and Byakugen active. He had also heard Neji's comment. "What do the Sharingan and Byakugen see?"

Sasuke frowned. He could not say for sure, as he had not trained for this. That would not happen again. He looked over at Sakura.

She mistook his look for an order to let them know. "He _was_ not chakra exhausted."

Hinata nodded. "She is right. His body was not showing signs of chakra exhaustion. Now it suddenly is."

Neji frowned, but he shook his head as he could not tell. He suddenly felt a pang of nervousness.

Shino and Shikamaru both blinked at that, then narrowed their eyes.

"And why would a genin lie about being exhausted?" the Hokage asked rhetorically as he considered the skill to hide your chakra state. That was something uncomfortably hard... and something a spy would use.

"Especially one that has failed to pass seven times?" Sasuke said as his Sharingan whirled dangerously. "And why, Lord Hokage, does his team not complain or push him to compete? They would _know_ their teammate. And would cover for their teammate."

The Proctors were now examining the nervous genin while two other jonin them were suddenly watching the jonin of Kabuto's team.

"Let us see if you have inherited your clan's renowned ability that see through lies and deceit, Uchiha," the Hokage called out. "Why would someone lie in this situation?"

Kabuto was staring hatefully at the brats, though he kept his face as composed as possible.

"If his mission was not to pass, but to keep up his strength. But he is Leaf, his mission should only to be to become chunin. Unless he is not really Leaf. Unless he is _traitor_." Sasuke was suddenly glaring at the older boy.

"I guess I have no choice but to compete-" Kabuto started to say.

"Proctors, arrest Kabuto and his teammates. They can explain to Morino Ibiki their actions," Hiruzen Saratobi called out. "Chunin make correct decisions... the first time."

Two chunin moved up to incapacitate Kabuto, but he suddenly counter-attacked with lashing out with chakra-scalpels that felled them both. The Sound Spy suddenly charged Sasuke in hatred, only to suddenly falling unconscious as he found the Hokage there in his combat gear. The old man had used some sort of attack that disrupted all of his nerves.

Yoroi and Misumi found a jonin and three chunin holding weapons on them and quickly surrendered.

The Hokage's eyes narrowed at that. "So it appears that Kabuto has been confirmed as traitor. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto and Hinata... you have passed your preliminary and will proceeded to the Third Exam. You should have had more faith in your clanmate, Neji Hyuga. You will not proceed."

"What!?" the older Hyuga shouted. "I am far stronger than Hinata!"

"And if power were the only thing tested, you would have passed. Or do you believe yourself superior to the Hokage?" Hiruzen's eyes stared down the Hyuga's without a qualm. "You may return to your clan now to explain your failure of judgement."

Hyate coughed. "Hokage, how is this fair to let them pass?"

"I could make them all chunin right now. That is my right as Hokage. And I know Team 7 and what fires they are being forged in," the old man said dangerously. "They have been trained as if for war under my direct supervision."

That caused all the older chunin and jonin to shift nervously. "For war?"

"They are the heirs of the Sharingan, of vital importance to this village. Do not question me on this matter again," the Hokage warned. Then he grinned like a wolf for a second. "Besides, this way there will be more challengers for them in the Final Round."

"Very well. We will proceed with the rest of the elimination rounds," Hyate called out.

Ino has moved up to Sakura. "What was that, Forehead?"

"It was a secret, Ino-pig," Sakura replied. She turned and looked at her head on, activating her Sharingan for just a second.

"Oh, crap. Sharingan?" The blonde was beyond flabbergasted.

"That explains it. I wondered how you could see that traitor's chakra wasn't exhausted," Shikamaru said with an aggravated puff of his cheeks. "Fighting you three is going to be bothersome."

Choji frowned, but nodded.

"It doesn't make us unstoppable," Naruto said with a wild looking grin.

Sasuke nodded. Oh, how he wished that the Sharingan made him unstoppable and that it alone would make him equal to Itachi. However the Sharingan was simply a powerful tool but only a tool. And thinking about that made Sasuke ponder if he should get a pair of goggles like Naruto. He wasn't sure what enemy ninja would have to hunt down bloodlines that had eye based abilities but he was sure they knew a few things that could turn the Sharingan into a disadvantage. Pepper dust in his face had been very unpleasant when Kakashi had used that on the team once or twice in training.

While Naruto was wondering what Neji's problem was and why he was constantly putting down Hinata. He tried to think if Hinata had done anything 'weak' and couldn't think of anything. She seemed to get flushed a lot but that didn't seem to slow her down.

The Hokage explained to everyone that this last Exam for chunin would be a proxy war, to showcase the strength of the different hidden villages. Then it was time for the first match.

Temari of the Sand versus Rock Lee.

The blonde kunoichi smirked in confidence as she leaped down to the ground, readying her war fan.

"Yosh!" the green-wearing taijitsu ninja said as he thumped to the ground lightly. "I see the fires of your youth burn brightly in you! Please do your best during our match!"

"Are all Leaf Ninja as weird as you?" she sniped back in preamble.

"Begin," the proctor called out.

Temari snapped a blast of wind at Lee, but he was far too fast, dodging out of the way. The slightly older blonde narrowed her eyes, as she tried to send a wider but wider blast of air, but Lee just smashed through that like it was nothing.

In the stands Tenten snorted. Given the amount of weights that Lee wore she had better luck knocking over a brick house. And Lee's skill in taijitsu made him a monster to fight in hand to hand combat. But they were _also_ encumbering him, so he was just not fast enough.

Temari narrowed her eyes as she started to ration her wind attacks while keeping her distance. The goofy kid in the bright green jumpsuit was more dangerous than he looked. Of course, so was she.

The younger boy furrowed his thick brows. This just was not working, as he was not used to someone being near in his speed. He suddenly backflipped to the far end of the area where he could dodge with far greater ease. Instantly, Temari quit her onslaught.

"You're better than I thought," the Sand Ninja admitted. "But you can't attack me."

He just gave her a thumb's up, then reached down and removed his leg-warmers. Standing up, he tossed them behind him and caused a small crater to appear from his weights. "We shall see!"

Temari just blinked as the boy turned into a green blur, easily sidestepping her attacks. She barely countered a kick with her huge war fan. Three punches snaked through her defenses to leave punishing bruises.

Up in the balcony, the three Sharingan users were watching the fight avidly. They were all starting to plan in their heads how to duplicate that amazing fighting speed. Kakashi prayed silently his students would avoid wearing green spandex.

Lee grinned as he saw her over-extend herself, then had to jump back as she started to spin the fan around her, conjuring up a spinning tornado of wind. "So... Rock Lee, right? You can't do any ninjitsu at all, can you? So my barrier is totally impregnable to you," Temari asked casually as she spun the fan around and around continuously. Baki had always told her to use this technique against someone that can burrow or send a fireball at you was totally insane.

But someone that could not? Perfect.

"Truely, you have an amazing mind to complement your fires of your youth. Yosh!" Lee shouted. He tried to burst past this barrier, but Temari spun her fan around, tightening the cyclone and sending Lee flying.

"Lee! I give you permission to use that ability!" Maito Gai called out, giving his protégé permission. "It's all right in this case! Though only the first two!"

"Yosh!" With a frown, he bounced back to his feet. He seemed to focus for a long moment. "Gate of Opening!" he suddenly shouted, charging forward even faster. He tried to match the wind's speed, but nearly got himself trapped into a deadly spin.

"You won't be able to punch through this barrier," Temari called out, thankful the wind was hiding her sweat. It was coming down to a matter of stamina. She would have never believed that anyone could just fight her with taijitsu. It was insane-

"Gate of Healing!" Rock Lee bellowed, speeding up even more. But he did not try to break through the barrier. Instead, he slammed his fists into the ground and then ripped up a six foot section of the floor... that Temari happened to be standing on the edge of.

The rocks exploded into the cyclone, even as it started to twist and warp out of control.

"No!" Temari shouted, just before Lee bulled through the weakened wind.

Bandages unwrapped as he kicked her high into the air in the center of her own cyclone.

"The lotus blooms!" the young genin shouted as he appeared behind her to smash her back down to the ground.

Kankuro and Gaara blinked, realizing that Temari was out. And soon declared the loser.

"Wow, Lee, that was amazing!" Naruto shouted. "Way to go!" And he had copied the move with his Sharingan, though he did not think his boy nor speed were up to that attack. Perhaps if he used clones for different parts? And that thing where he unleashed his chakra within his body-

"I'm appalled at you teaching such a dangerous technique. Now I have to explain to my students that they just can't use that technique they all copied," Kakashi said in an aggravated tone.

"They copied opening the first two gates? Wait, _all_ of them?" Maito asked, distracted from heading down to congratulate his student. He blinked uncomfortably as the three genin turned their five Sharingan towards him (though Sakura deactivated hers almost instantly. She was trying to conserve her chakra, after all.) "Truly... Team Sharingan. You might even match the Sennin."

Tenten blinked and looked worried at that. "Team Sharingan?"

"What you just saw was originally a suicide technique. It's very dangerous, because it removes all limits that your body uses to protect you from inflicting damage to itself. So only use that if you absolutely must," Kakashi explained as he glared with one eye at his 'rival'.

"Better stick to just weights then," Naruto said sheepishly while grinning.

Sasuke shivered. He might want to kill Itachi before restoring his clan but then he was hit with the fact if he died before rebuilding the clan that task would fall onto Naruto. While he didn't hate his cousin he didn't really want to the leadership of the Uchiha clan to fall to be in Naruto's hands. Sasuke had a feeling a girl could ask Naruto to help them have children and if they didn't make it blunt it would go over Naruto's head.

The electric sign spun again, starting to spit out a new set of names.

Shino Aburame versus Ino Yamanaka.

The blonde girl narrowed her eyes at the high-collared wearing boy who's expression was quite hidden behind his glasses.


	3. Finals and Assassins

Ino Yamanaka landed lightly on the ground, thinking furiously about Sasuke and Sakura. The girl had been her 'rival' but she had never really taken her seriously until Sakura had ended up on Team 7.

"You seem to be confused and distracted? Perhaps you should bow out so you can consider your love life in depth," Shino Aburame said in a chilly tone.

"Oh, don't worry, Aburame, I have more than enough to take you out, even being a distracted _damsel_," the blonde said to her opponent in a scathing tone.

"So you feel your are ready? I sincerely doubt that you are in any way, shape or form prepared," Shino commented as he doubted Ino knew even the basics of her family's fighting style. She was also a huge fangirl who fawned over Sasuke Ichiha and going by rumors he heard even went on diets to stay thin. It honestly surprised Shino that Ino had made it this far. Still Shino wanted to fight a worthy foe and Ino would not cut it. Shino sent out a swarm of his bugs in a spiral formation at Ino.

She just flipped backwards while throwing a kunai that the destruction-bug user intercepted with a stream of bugs. "Is this truly the best of this generation of Yamanaka? You should have at least rested up better," Shino remarked as if bored.

"I guess it's time to take it up a notch then," the blonde replied.

Shino ordered his bugs to land on Ino and drain her chakra. Best to end this complete farce of a battle now instead of let Ino make an even bigger fool of herself in front of everyone. For the good of Leaf of course.

But she was too cagey, keeping herself just far enough away and avoiding the pitfalls of being trapped in a corner. Shino knew he should have told her he used a bug to poison her and then use a minor genjitsu to make feel a fever, sweaty and taste bile in the back of her mouth. He narrowed his eyes.

Suddenly she made regular clones to quickly confuse him and surround him. Each of them went through a handseal, but only the one in the far back slumped over. Shino immediately leaped to the side. According to what he knew, she was helpless if she missed.

His bugs came at her in streams, slamming... _through_ her illusion? He started to push his sense to detect where she really was...

That was when he suddenly lost direct sense of anything. Ino had slumped over from right within five feet of him and too quickly to dodge. Shino's body raised his hand, grimacing behind his collar. This was a very disturbing body to be in. Ino could literally feel bugs inside of Shino.

"I, Shino Aburame, forfeit to you the Proctor officially," Ino said in as best an approximation as she could of his speaking habits.

Gekko Hayate coughed, hiding his smile. It seemed like the Yamanaka had not lost their flair. "I accept, per the rules of the Exam."

That was when Shino came back to his sense. "She managed her mind switch jitsu? It appears I underestimated her skill and guile," he said to himself. He suddenly glared at her as she stood up. He would long remember this affront.

"Wow, that was really cool!" Naruto shouted. His own Sharingan eyes had seen through the illusion clones, so that would not have worked on him.

"She'll use a different tactic against us," Sasuke said seriously. Probably something to hamper mobility. Though Sasuke did wonder if telling her off and that he never ever held the slightest bit of interest in her would be very effective if he had to fight her. It was worth a shot.

"Oh, Shino? You might not want to always dodge to the right," Ino said with a smirk. "You still haven't lost that bad habit from the academy."

Hinata looked over to where 'Team Sharingan' was conversing. She wondered if there should ever be a 'Team Byakugan' and what sort of strengths that would bring.

Ino smirked over to Sakura as she came back over to their group. "Looks like I made it to the finals on my own power... Forehead."

Sakura just seethed at that. "I'll show you how much power I have in the finals, Ino-piggy."

They were almost butting heads, they were so close in their glaring match.

That was when the electronic sign started to whirl to life, spitting out the next match.

Tenten of the Leaf vs. Kankuro of the Sand.

The kunoichi from Konoha landed on the ground in front of the odd statue, taking in the teen across from her. While she wore a Chinese-style outfit and her hair in little 'dumplings', he had on an outfit that covered him in black, blank cloth. The only thing that stood out was his painted face, his Sand Ninja head-protector and an item on his back. Which was probably his puppet, but he was not readying it.

That meant something then.

Kankuro yawned as he listened to the Proctor instruct them. It was time to show that Sand's puppet ninja were still to be feared as he walked forward.

Tenten smiled as she got her answer. She was facing a puppet, which meant the real Kankuro was probably in that wrapping on 'his' back. She was glad she had listened to her father's old war stories. With a smirk, she sent a brace of Kunai at the puppet, but used her own chakra-string technique to spin one kunai around so that it hit ring first on Kankuro's real head.

"Ow!" the puppet-master said, quickly disengaging from the back of his puppet. "You saw through that then? But that won't help you now. Puppets are the ultimate long-range weapon."

Tenten just smiled widely as she judged the distance. "That sound like a challenge." She started pulling out more and more weapons all the while avoiding the puppets many traps and needle launchers.

Sakura watched and wondered how good of chakra control someone would need to form chakra strings like that to control puppets or weapons. She was sure if Naruto tried his strings would cause the puppets to burst into flames. She then realized that Naruto might try it anyway because burning puppets that were as life-like has Kankuro's first one would scare everyone in a fight.

Kankuro was smirking, as this was the exact sort of fight he was set up for. He was impressed at the girl's arsenal, as she had thrown over a hundred shurikan, knives and kunai at him and his puppet so far. And he was glad her Hyuuga teammate managed to get himself thrown out of the tournament for a being a prick in front of the village's Kage.

Beads of sweat were forming on Tenten's brow. That stupid puppet was absorbing all of her attacks, but he had finally stripped away enough of its 'clothing' to do what she really wanted. "Here I come!" she shouted. The first two kunai slammed into its knee joints, then followed by two into its hip joints, then two to its shoulders.

"What?" Kankuro knew that he could unjam the joint attacks, but he was terribly vulnerable for a moment.

A explosion of smoke covered the girl and her two scrolls for just a second. Tenten then leaped into the air as two scrolls unraveled around her as the appearance of two dragons of smoke spiraling upwards. "Twin Rising Dragons!" Dozens and dozens of kunai, throwing knives and shurikan all appeared from the seal on the scroll. With smooth precision and utmost speed, she threw the weapons at the suddenly defenseless puppet-master.

Kankuro could not dodge everything and put up his arms and legs to block his vulnerable torso, neck and head. As Tenten landed, she threw two more shurikan from a special pouch, cutting him again. "I'd give up if I were you."

The puppet master flicked his finger, setting off the launcher in his puppet's right arm that happened to be pointed in her direction. She was actually surprised and failed to dodge all of the needles.

He started laughing. "I'd give up yourself. You've been poisoned."

"So have you. And you are bleeding a lot worse." Tenten pulled out the needle and then unwrapped one of her hair buns to tie a quick tourniquet to her arm with the cord.

Kankuro glared at her, but he did feel the poison in his system and with his other wounds... he was done. "I give up, Proctor."

"Winner is Tenten of the Leaf," the special jonin called out. Ninja medics quickly descended on the two to administer first aid and stop the poison and bleeding.

Gaara was frowning heavily suddenly. He was the only one on his team that was going to pass. That would upset his father greatly. The Leaf was not as weak as Sound had said it was. And the spies that Sound had just lost... the invasion could not happen any more. He would have to kill his two siblings later. And Sound's spies for being idiots as well.

The other three genin were thinking of the possible upcoming match. Finally the electronic sign lit up.

Kiba Inuzaku versus Sikamaru Nara.

"This is going to be great," Kiba exclaimed loudly. The little puppy on his head barked happily. "Don't hold back, slacker. I'll take you down!"

"Troublesome," Nara said in seeming abject apathy. "And here I am without stink bombs or a rolled up newspaper."

"Why you-!" the Inuzuka ninja-dog handler yelled out.

The Proctor the exam coughed. Then he again explained the rules and started off the match.

Kiba and Akamaru both moved back quickly, even as Shikamaru palmed a couple of shurikan and tried to hit the Ninja-Dog.

"We're too fast for you," Kiba crowed, even as he fed his puppy a modified soldier pill and then ran through the hand-seals for his special clone jitsu.

After they were done, there were two animalized Kiba clones.

Ino and Choji blinked in shock as they saw their lethargic team mate moving faster than they had _ever_ seen, tying two exploding tags to kunai as he dodged. They saw why, as the Ninja-Dog pair slammed into the ground where he had been, tearing up the solid rock.

"Whoa, that's pretty powerful," Choji admitted.

"Are all the dead lasts just poor at taking tests?" Ino asked as she was quite shocked.

The paired-clones did not let up in the slightest, forcing Shikamaru to dodge and dodge and not allowing him to attack with his tags. They finally had him cornered and were spinning towards him in another buzz-saw attack when he set off the tag in left hand. Green smoke filled that corner as they slammed into it.

Kiba and Akamaru both staggered out of the corner holding their noses while coughing and wheezing, their jitsu dropped. Shikamaru was visible as the stink cloud dispersed, clinging to the walls above the shattered crater. The young Inuzuka barely had a moment to sense the attack as the Nara leaped from the wall and hit his face with a double-punch attack, sending the boy into unconsciousness and sliding across the ground.

The ninja then looked at the growling Ninja-dog and then growled right back, sending the puppy scurrying over to his fallen master.

"Man, this stink is going to take forever to get out," he complained as the Proctor called out his win. Looks like he still had the skill to modify his exploding tags into stink-bomb tags. Too bad that Kiba had forgotten that prank back in the Academy.

"Note to self," Naruto said with a crazy grin. "Eat a lot of cabbage and beans if I have to fight an Inuzuka."

Sasuke upped the 'I need to rebuild the clan so Naruto doesn't have to' part of his plans in his head. He also wondered what kind of woman would actually like Naruto. Frankly it scared him a bit wondering how crazy they'd have to be.

Hinata Hyuuga sneezed a few rows over while Sakura rubbed her itching nose.

While Sasuke started pondering what women didn't annoy him and might be able to survive a brawl with Sakura, Ino and several others. Off the top of his head was Haku, Tenten, and Temari of Sand. It kind of saddened him a bit that he didn't know many women that weren't fangirls of his. And realized he should have told them that he wanted a girl that could fight and was decently pretty.

And help him kill his brother Itachi, he finished with a mental snarl.

That would have cut down the fangirls easily. And they'd likely give up on him or on being ninjas if they tried to do what he wanted. Either way it would have made his life easier. And likely have cut the amount of fangirls in the academy way down.

"Would the final contestants come down?" the Proctor, Gekko Hayate, called out.

Shikamaru happened by Choji as he was walking down. "You should forfeit. He's way more powerful than you," he warned.

"You should have more faith in your team mate, Shikamaru," Asuma said in disapproval.

"I know Choji, but this guy... He's dangerous."

Choji looked torn, then he smiled widely. "Don't worry. I might lose, but I can show off how much I've grown in power!"

"I'll treat you to all you can eat barbecue, how's that?" their jonin leader said. "Do your best and we'll celebrate."

Shikamaru shook his head sadly. They weren't listening. Gaara of Sand looked like he could kill someone just to see what sound it'd make. And killing someone wasn't against the rules of the exam, merely something that was usually frowned on. And they'd seen Gaara kill several people already in the Forest of Death.

Gaara of the Sand appeared in a swirl of sand on the amphitheater floor as Choji tromped up. Bloodshot eyes studied the chubby boy with disdain as Gekko explained the rules again.

"Begin," the Proctor called out as he bounced back over to the Hokage and the jonin watching the preliminaries.

The red-head studied the taller and bigger teen for a second. "You won't help me."

"Huh?" Choji asked.

"Killing you won't validate my existence," Gaara explained coldly. His sand was starting to swirl out of its container on his back.

A cold sweat broke out on Choji's wide brow, even as he went through his size-change jitsu. He suddenly turned comically fat, round and over six feet tall. With a shout, he started rolling towards the unmoving target in front of him.

"Pathetic," the red-head sneered. His sand erected a solid wall that Choji's 'meat tank' form just bounced off of. He careened off a wall. Before he could start moving again, spikes of sand pierced Choji... ending his size-change jitsu. With a demented snarl, more sand lashed out, crushing Choji's legs and knocking him out from the pain.

"Gaara is the winner-" Gekko suddenly realized that Gaara was not stopping, as the sand then crushed his upper legs. He and Asuma suddenly flashed over faster than his sand could react. "And you can stop now..." he said threateningly.

The Team 10 jonin held the chakra infused knuckle-knife to Gaara's throat.

Gaara finally let the sand collapse, then flowed it back into his gourd on his back. Medics rushed up to work on saving Choji's life.

"As I was saying, Gaara of the Sand is the winner," the Proctor continued as he moved back in front of the Hokage.

In the stands Kakashi wondered who could train Sakura and Naruto. He could cover Sasuke for training, but he couldn't train them all as effectively as they would need in case they ended up fighting Gaara. They were going to need every bit of training they could get to survive that killing machine.

The Hokage started explaining how the finals would be run as individual fights under the view of important ninja and lords across the Ninja Nations. The Proctors then handed out numbers to match up individual fights.

Kakashi was pondering who he could get to train his team. Sasuke would probably gain the most from his tutelage. Naruto was going to require the most work, as Gaara looked to be extremely dangerous and _wanted_ to kill him. Perhaps one of his colleagues from ANBU?

That just left Sakura and for a moment Kakashi imagined Anko training Sakura. And then getting stabbed in the gut by Sakura in retaliation. Kurenai Yuhi would have been a good person for genjitsu, but would be busy training Hinata herself. If the young Hyuga was not trained by her family, though that was debatable. Perhaps he could convince Ebisu to help her build up her speed and chakra? With her Sharingan allowing her to quickly learn ninjitsu, she should be fine. Though Ebisu needed to told that his 'trainer of Hokages' made him sound stupid given the only man still alive that could claim that was Jiraiya.

"The first match will be Rock Lee versus Hinata Hyuga. The second match is Sasuke Uchiha versus Tenten. The third match is Ino Yamanaka versus Sakura Haruno. The fourth match is Naruto Uzumaki versus Gaara of the Sand." Gekko Hayate coughed then continued. "Congratulations all and good luck in this month of training in preparation."

Kiba looked at Ino and Sakura and said with a wild-ass grin, "Awesome! We're going to get to see a cat fight!"

Both girls clubbed him to the ground, then kicked him a few times for his troubles. "Jerk!" they cried at the same time.

"Akamaru must the brains of that duo," Sasuke commented with a hard smile.

"I say that everyday," Shikamaru said as he rolled his eyes up at the hidden sky.

"Very funny," Kiba grumbled on the ground as two heels pushed down. Akamaru enthusiastically barked and Kiba then grumbled, "Just for that, I am not getting you any slippers to gnaw on."

The puppy just continued to bark happily.

Kakashi was suddenly looming over them. "I need to talk to my team now. Shikamaru and Ino, I believe Asuma is wanting to talk to you."

"Hey can you tell me where their Sensei got those cool knives?" Naruto asked Kakashi.

"Asuma's knives _are_ quite special and expensive. And they might not work for you at all," their leader explained much to Naruto's frustration. "All three of you are going to need dedicated training for this month. You have come farther than most people would believe. The problem is, I really can't dedicate myself to all of you. So I am going to have call in some favors to get people to help me."

"So who are you going to train?" Sakura asked carefully.

"Most likely, Sasuke as we share affinities. But that really depends on who else I can get to help me. So you three had better work very hard."

They all nodded. Sasuke was happy that he was probably going to be trained by the legendary jonin himself, but the fact that he was not actually being given preferred treatment made him feel better about his team. When Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, he looked over at his two new clan mates. "So... are you guys ready to move into the Uchiha district?" Sasuke was _not _showing his dislike to moving back there.

"Huh?" Naruto asked. "You want us to move in to your house?"

"We're Uchiha now, Naruto. It would not be right to live outside that district. And it tells the villagers that the clan is reforming." Her inner Sakura was pumping her fists and shouting, 'Take that, Ino-piggy!'

"That's right. Just grab enough supplies for an overnight stay for now. We'll have to move your personal items later-" Sasuke was saying.

"Bah, no way! I'll handle moving us! Just you watch!" Naruto exclaimed. "Oh. Hey, Sasuke? Can Haku stay with us for now?"

"Fine," Sasuke said in an aggravated tone. He had forgotten about the girl for a moment. "Though you will have to fix up of the guest quarters for her, Naruto."

"No problem," Naruto said. He had actually done that when he sent out his original clones that cleaned up the compound. He guessed that Sasuke did not really realize that he really had fixed it all up.

* * *

It was a meeting of the Hokage's 'advisers' but larger and more inclusive than most had seen. The civilian and merchant councilors looked on from the room as imposing jonin and retired ninja took their places.

The last to enter was two elders of the Hyuga and Hiashi Hyuga. The later took his place among the jonin.

"Thank you for all arriving so quickly. This is a matter that I felt would be best handled today before the rumors of what happened in the Chunin Exam became rampant," the old man said as he set his still smoldering pipe down and tipped the Hokage's ceremonial hat back a bit. "Sasuke Uchiha has accepted to new members into his clan, both having active Sharingan."

Danzo started at that. "What is this?" the bandage covered contemporary of the Hokage demanded. "I thought that the only Sharingan in Konoha was Sasuke's and Kakashi's eyes?"

"So we thought, but a bastard child of a rogue ninja has luckily found its way back to Konoha. Perhaps it was fate that led that survivor here from the Land of Whirlpools. Her child graduated from the Academy and was one of the Rookies that attempted the chunin exam." His grim eyes looked around. "The matter and reason that this is of import, instead of just celebration, is that he is Naruto Uzumaki."

"That monster?" a merchant shouted. "That's too dangerous!"

"Indeed, it is a bit worrisome. We are lucky that Naruto still hold Konoha in his heart and cares for it," Hiruzen said to them all. "In spite of the hatred and distrust that he has grown up under."

"Why were we called here then?" his son Asuma said. He had seen their eyes himself and had been a bit shocked.

"So that if anyone asks, you can tell them the truth. Sasuke Uchiha has started reforming his clan and adopted Naruto and Sakura, who has also managed to acquire a Sharingan," the Hokage stated. "So there are three Uchiha now."

Danzo frowned. "How did she gain the Sharingan? That sounds suspicious."

Homaru nodded. The old team mate of the Hokage carried a lot of influence in these councils. "Is it a secret that the Uchiha had; that they can give anyone they want the Sharingan?"

"I wonder what sort of sacrifice that would require? In any case, the young kunoichi gained it from a fallen ninja. But she has accepted special training and swore fealty to Uchiha because of it. Unlike Kakashi," the Hokage said with a nod to the ninja reading in the back of the room, "she has control over her eye. And is learning to use it every day."

Maito Gai's draw dropped at that. "She can do something as a genin that Kakashi still can't do? What sort of team did you put together, Lord Hokage?"

"The best team possible, it seems. They also helped ferret out traitors to the Leaf her in Konoha. At least one jonin and possibly all three of his genin were actually spies from Sound." He let his gaze drift among them. Quite a bit of surprise from the civilians, none from the ninja. "They were working for Orochimaru."

Danzo frowned at that. "What does he want?"

"He wants the Sharingan. And it appears he no longer holds any love for Konoha. Kabuto Akado believed that the Sound was preparing to attack us. All Sound Ninja will be expelled."

"Something does not sound right," Kurenai Yuhi said as she concentrated. "Sound could not believe that they could succeed."

"True, but if they had the correct allies, things could become a problem. There are rumors that the Hidden Village of the Sand may have been part of this. But if they did, their showing at the Chunin Exam has made them reconsider their position. Only one of their genin made it to the finals. And we believe he is special in some manner. He's probably already at least high chunin in skill."

The Akimichi nodded. "Choji may never be a ninja again. He almost died from his wounds."

"His actions are very monstrous. We had best not underestimate him," another jonin called out.

"We shall leave that to Kakashi."

The jonin nodded. "I may have to recruit some help, so please try to help me with assignments."

* * *

"Get out of here, monster! You won't take my daughter away!" the elder, male Haruno shouted at Naruto.

"Dad! I've already told you what has happened. I've been adopted into Clan Uchiha by _Sasuke Uchiha,_" the auburn-haired girl shouted right back. They were in the entryway of the Haruno home. "Naruto is just helping me move my things."

"And why have you been adopted? You keep avoiding telling us-," her mother started to call out, when Sakura wheeled about on her.

"Because I have a Sharingan!" she shouted into her mother's face. "And Uchiha needs all of the Sharingans it can get to rebuild itself." Her left eye had activated itself in anger, two tomoe spinning around the red pupil.

"How did you get that eye?" the father asked.

"I can't say. It's a clan secret, though I can say it was not purposeful. But I agreed and now I have it," she countered while tapping her toe impatiently.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. Not on purpose."

"You're still my parents, but this is really me moving out on my own. There's a lot of empty houses in the Uchiha district. And I'm going to be a chunin soon. Just you wait."

"Chunin already?"

"Yeah, our whole team made it to the finals! And we intend to win," Sakura said carefully. Then a thought occurred to the young girl. "The Hokage said something unusual, about our family having a bloodline limit."

"An old rumor about being able to call up a secondary personality that can be trained in its own strengths. It's hard to say if it is a bloodline or just insanity that is passed along the family," her father explained. "Neither I nor my father had it after all."

'I'm real?' Inner-Sakura asked in a strange voice. 'Quick! Make a shadow clone! I wanna introduce myself to mom and dad.'

"Wow, that sounds cool," Naruto exclaimed in surprise.

With a poof, she finished creating her clone. "Um, Mom... Dad? This is part of me, I think."

"Wahoo! I'm real, dammit!" the clone shouted in glee as she pumped her fist.

"So I went on a clone-date with your other self?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Inner-Sakura nodded. "That's right, but we didn't think about being seperate. And we're still Sakura, after all. I'm just the voice that pushes her to do everything." She started doing a victory dance around the room, surprising everyone else with her exhuberance.

"Quit embarrassing me!" Sakura shouted before she thumped the clone to dispel it.

"That explains _sooo_ much," her mother said. "And that's a bloodline limit? You do have some scrolls that explain this, right?"

"I'll have to dig in the attic," her father said quickly.

* * *

Two crowds of noisy Naruto Clones met up outside the Uchiha district, causing Sasuke's stress level to increase. Each clone was help carrying furniture or clothes.

A single head of auburn-dyed hair stood out next to the long, black hair of Haku.

"Have you figured out our rooms?" Sakura asked as she bounced along. Inner-Sakura was singing happily in a low tune.

"We'll be in the main house. It's more than big enough and we can share cooking chores," the Uchiha head of the household said. "That reminds me. Naruto, just be aware, you are _heir_ to the clan. So there are going to be some etiquette classes you are going to have to take after the chunin finals."

"Etiquette?" all of the Narutos chimed out in horror. Sasuke resisted the urge to rub his forehead and ask what he'd done to deserve this.

"It isn't that bad, Naruto," Haku said with a soft smile. "And it will help you on missions. There are times you will have to be polite to your client in fancy settings. You may have to pretend to be a noble to sneak into a party to kill someone. A ninja must be adaptable."

The nearer clones frowned, but nodded. That was something everyone knew that ninja did, even if Naruto did not like the thought.

The clones were busy filling the three bedrooms when there was a voice outside calling for them. "Hello?"

"Kakashi?" the nearest clone asked as he opened the door.

"Yo!" the jonin said. A figure just behind him looked at the genin with keen, dark eyes. He was wearing a standard jonin outfit, but he wore a head-protector that was reminiscent of the First Hokage and looked quite young. "This is... Yamato. He's agreed to help train you, Naruto. Expect to work very hard."

Sakura looked up from where she was going through a box. "Who did you get for me?"

"A special jonin by the name of Ebisu is going to be working on your chakra reserves and fighting strength," the Team 7 leader explained.

"Pack as if for a mission out of the village, Naruto. We don't have any time to waste," the new jonin said. "We will leave today, so I'm sorry about the lack of rest in your new home."

"You too, Sasuke. And Sakura, you will probably be working just as hard," Kakashi called out. "So be ready for him in the next half an hour."

"I'm ready!" Naruto called out as he came down the hallway with his backpack.

"You're going to leave this work undone?" Yamato asked.

"Nah, the clones can finish up and then dispell themselves," the genin replied.

"Exactly how many clones can you make?" the new jonin asked.

"Hundreds of them." Naruto then explained, "Never have tried to see exactly how many I can make." Didn't he make almost five hundred when he beat up Mizuki? And six hundred to help on that farm. Maybe he should try to see how many he could make some time.

Yamato hid his surprise and now understood why Naruto had trouble with the standard clone techique. He just had so much chakra it was hard to control. Plus from what he'd heard Naruto's chakra control wasn't the best either, though it had improved a lot as Kakashi had drilled his team with tree climbing and water walking already.

He would have to discover what is Naruto's primary element. That was when Sasuke came down with his own pack and the four of them departed.

Sakura sighed as she thought. "Okay, okay. Quit nagging me." With a poof, she created another clone.

"It's dark in there," Inner Sakura said while waving her arms around. "And frankly boring. Let's go make up our room."

"You know, there's going to be a time when people are going to want to refer to you seperately. And 'crazy voice in your head' doesn't sound appealing!" Sakura stuck out her tongue at herself.

"Ringoame!" the clone immediately piped up with. "I've been thinking of it for a week or so ever since you let me go on that date with Naruto!" She pumped her fist in victory on that.

"You can keep things from me..." Now Sakura was actually a little worried. 'This was probably going to be bad,' a small voice said very quietly.

"I only, uh, distracted you from the fact that I acted differently. And wasn't Naruto just so cute on our date? We've got two great guys! And now we can have them both! Weee!"

Haku just blinked from down the hall. She had wandered into the kitchen to see what was there, only to find a severe lack of food. It appeared that the food that she had brought from Naruto's was the lion's share of groceries. She coughed, then made a small wave. "Let's get you something to eat before your trainer arrives."

"Yah!" the newly christened Ringoame called out. "I wanna try spicy stuff!"

All of the clones were thinking the same thing; Naruto like an odd girl. Though odd was not boring, in their minds. So all was good.

Twenty minutes later, another voice called out. "Is Sakura Haruno here?"

Ringoame opened the door. "We're in here. Are you the teacher that Kakashi got to help us?"

"That's correct. Though I do believe that he said that he and Yamato would be getting here before I could," the special jonin wearing the lighter-weight outfit and sunglasses said. Unlike regular the higher ranked jonin, he did not have the flack-jacket that was so common.

"Here he is, Sakura. Say, what's your name? I'm Rongame, Sakura's active bloodline," the boisterous girl exclaimed suddenly.

"You may call me Ebisu. Twins? Or some form of clones?" the prideful teacher asked.

"An extra mind that I can put into a shadow clone," Sakura explained. "She's a lot more aggressive and open than I am."

"Interesting. This may be the key to getting the most out of your training," Ebisu said thoughtfully. "Kage no bunshin are incredibly useful."

"What are you going to teach us?" the clone piped up in query.

"We are going to be doing very focused physical exercise and building your chakra coils. This will be dangerous. If you over do my training, you could permanently hurt yourself," the special jonin explained.

"I didn't think you could do that," Sakura said in surprise. "None of the books I've read say that."

"That's because it's very dangerous so Academy books are prohibited from mentioning it. You have to _nearly _overload your chakra coils from exhaustion, then try to refill them as quickly as possible. I hope you don't think you are going to be on a diet, because you are going to be eating quite a bit while converting it to chakra as quickly as possible," Ebisu explained.

"Is ramen a good food for that?" a Naruto clone wondered.

"We aren't going to like this are we?" Ringoame said in mute horror.

'No, I don't think we are,' that quiet voice in the back of Sakura's mind said.

"What the hell? Another voice?" Sakura shouted as she stood up in shock.

"Ooh! Make a clone and let her introduce herself!" the first clone said.

Sakura opened her mouth comically, then decided that it might work as Haku and Ebisu looked on in surprise. Another poof and there was another clone, almost knocking out Sakura.

"Um, hello?" the new clone of Sakura looked very timid.

"I have my own inner Hinata," Sakura said in shock.

"That's not very fair," the new clone protested softly. She suddenly had a small, shy smile. "You can call me Suika."

"Cherry, apple and watermelon? Cute," Ebisu said blandly. "Dispel your clones. It's time to start exercising."

* * *

Naruto was groaning as he collapsed. "Explain to me why I agreed to this?"

"Because you don't want Gaara to kill you?" Yamato said in a bland tone.

"Oh, yeah. Good point," Naruto said with a sheepish grin. "But this exercise is crazy. Gathering all the chakra I can into this stupid ninjitsu and then blasting through in one hit?" He pointed at the earth wall that the jonin had created with some earth jitsu. It has some very anemic circular craters blown in it with an wind ninjitsu that Naruto had been practicing with. Naruto thought he'd have made huge holes given the amount of chakra he had.

"Your normal tactic of throwing clones and fire ninjitsu at your foe that you've been trying to learn aren't going to work against this one. His sand defense is immense against the level of skill you have."

"Isn't there a way to improve my clones?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Yamato said "And we'll cover that later. You need to expand your tactics Naruto. And now that we've verified that you are wind affinity, you are going to have to work hard on it. Luckily for you, wind trumps earth."

"But fire trumps wind." That had been maddening to Naruto that his wind affinity was so outclassed by fire.

"And water trumps fire. You're rivalry with Sasuke is going to have to wait until we make sure you survive Gaara."

"But he's probably learning a thousand ninjutsu," Naruto grumbled.

"Naruto, I doubt Kakashi is teaching Sasuke that many," Yamato said with as much patience as the young jonin could muster. "This will also make it easier for you to summon, in the future."

"You're going to teach me to summon?" the young genin asked in glee.

"No, not at this time. You don't have the control to muster even the weakest summon." The placid looking jonin suddenly nodded. "If you can succeed at this whole exercise, then I'll see what I can do to get you a summon. How's that?"

Naruto went right back to it, but his progress was not very fast. It was not bad, but it was not fast enough for the limited time of training they had.

"I don't think we have enough time," Yamato said flatly during their lunch.

"You mean I need to learn faster? Why didn't you say so," the genin exclaimed as he jumped, spilling his his riceball on the ground. With his trademark single seal, he created dozens of himself that immediately started training.

The jonin's mouth fell open slightly as he watched for an hour as Naruto days of training in a fraction of the time. He was going to be able to do the physical training then. "Hey. I need the real Naruto. Make a replacement clone and let's start to seriously spar.

Naruto just grinned as he summoned another clone.

* * *

Sakura huffed and puffed as she walked across the water of the hotspring under the weights that Ebisu had her wearing. Working with practice forms at the same time was pure pain. This was the third day of tiring herself out to near chakra exhaustion. Finally, she fell through her water walking technique and was quickly pulled out by Ebisu.

"This is working, if not quite as quickly as we would like," he explained as he had her drink a noxious soup.

She really hated the taste. "What is this stuff?"

"Ah, this is an old recipe that predates the soldier ration pills. It works better, but has to be made fresh each meal and is not suitable for the war front, of course. It can recover your chakra stores quite quickly, especially if you meditate like I explained." The special jonin pushed his sunglasses up his nose.

"It seems impossible," Sakura muttered. Without Naruto or even Sasuke around, it was hard to keep motivated.

"This is something that the Akimichi children learn by the time they are five," the dark-haired ninja said with a smirk. They were not _good_ at it by that time, but that would probably push her button to get her to try harder.

"This could be useful. Could I get the recipe?" she suddenly said as she tried to desperately focus.

"Only if you promise to not use it in your training without your team leader present." He cut her off. "I know how you kids can be, you'll try this and almost kill yourself. I'm not having your death on my hands."

"I promise," Sakura finally said. And she really meant it. After finishing off her barely warm soup, she focused on her stomach, trying to will it to absorb the chakra-replenishing food as quickly as possible. And she could see why Chouji used potato chips for this given even putting ramen noodles in that soup couldn't get Naruto to like it.

Ebisu had to leave, but promised to be back in an hour while she rested. Twenty minutes later, when Sakura felt her legs were wobbly and not made of rubber, she heard a giggle. Sneaking over, she saw an older man peeking through a hole in the wall to the women's side. He seemed to be taking notes... which was odd. If she had more energy, she'd have punched him in the head really hard.

She cleared her throat from behind him, causing him to stop writing.

"Wow, I must have let my guard drop since I'm home," the man said as he stood up. "And exactly why aren't you more upset?" He seemed to be wearing traveling priest clothing, face paint and a strange head protector with 'oil' written upon it.

"Too tired, actually," Sakura admitted with a droop on her shoulders.

"So what are you working so hard toward?" he asked curiously.

"I'm working hard to fight my best in the chunin finals next month," she explained in a drained tone. 'Heck yeah!' Ringoame shouted internally. "So I'm working on my chakra reserves. I'm a lot better than I was, but I still can't pull off powerful ninjitsu easily. Every other day we work on taijitsu and physical training. It's been very rough so far."

"Sounds a little extreme for just an fights against genin," the old man said with a frown.

"One of the battles could be against Gaara of the Sand. He's crazy and crushed Choji's legs like they were dry twigs," Sakura said carefully. "And Choji's an Akimichi; he was the physically strongest of our Academy days." She wondered if she should tell him about what Team 10 had seen during the second exam, where Gaara had killed three Rain Ninja almost instantly. Shikamaru had let her know about that yesterday, as a bit of friendly advice.

Now she was worried about Naruto. He was the one that would have to fight Gaara and she didn't want to see him crushed like one would see a bug after being hit with a hammer. She wasn't sure his ability to heal and regenerate body parts would be enough.

"Gaara of the Sand? I've heard some rumors about him. Yeah, you probably do need everything you can to beat him," the old man said. "And since you're a cutie, I'll do you a favor! I, Jiraiya of the West and East, Super Sage of the Toads, will take you as my apprentice for this month!"

"One of the three Sennin of Konoha?" Sakura blink-blinked in surprise.

Jiriaya grinned and remembered the last time he taught a female student. He wondered what Konan was up to now. Then his face fell. What was he actually going to teach her in less than a month that would actually _help_ her?

* * *

Sakura staggered back home early morning of the day before the final exam. Surprisingly, she felt she really had become stronger under Jiraiya and Ebisu.

"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto called out from down the street. He had his backpack on and looked as tired as she did.

_'Want out! Make a clone!'_ Ringoame mentally yelled. _'Don't make me start singing.'_

Sakura sighed while making the sign for the powerful shadow clone. "Don't yell. It's still early."

"Naruto! Yahoo!" Ringoame called out and charged down the road and gave him a quick hug.

"Uh, hi Sakura and... Ringoame, right?" Naruto said as he scrunched his forehead in remembrance.

"You remembered! How's your training going?" Sakura's clone asked happily.

"Supposed to be resting," Sakura muttered.

"Oh, okay. I just wanted to say hi. You won't let me take over," Ringoame complained before she dispelled herself.

Sakura blinked at that. "Huh. I had not thought of that." Internally, she pulled her main consciousness back and let Ringoame take over. Her posture changed immediately. "Or maybe she would. So how _did_ your training go?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh, I've become really strong. Yamato really put me through the ringer." He taught him a lot of taijitsu and to increase his strength and speed.

"Ebisue did too. I've learned some new ninjitus, but it's really my strength and speed that have improved the most." Ringoame smirked at that. _Jiraiya_ had shown her how to start enhancing her body like his old team mate did.

"Good. That means that we've all gotten a lot stronger," Sasuke said from the top of a wall . He was crouched down, looking at them with a cold smirk.

They all continued the half block down to their house and opened the gate.

"Oh, Sasuke? This is Ringoame. I guess she's this cool mind thingie that the Haruno can do. It's a bloodline limit," Naruto explained to the other boy.

"You're both Uchiha now, though bloodline limits are always kind of cool," Sasuke admitted. Was she a fan-girl too?

They entered the house to see a barely awake figure stumbling towards the kitchen.

"Hey, Haku! How's it going?" Naruto shouted.

"I'm fine, Naruto. How are you?" the kunoichi asked as she turned on the stove while putting on a pot of water.

Sasuke just grunted, trying to ignore the girl. Now that she was not trying to hide her gender, she confused him a bit.

"Fine, Haku! Let me help with that. These two guys are such boys when it comes to the kitchen," Ringoame exclaimed. She started to put some rice on to cook.

Sasuke blinked as that was totally unlike Sakura to say anything remotely negative about him. It appeared the other personality was not as hung up on him. This should be interesting.

"Naruto? Egg drop soup or miso?" Ringoame asked sweetly of the boy.

"Eh, miso should be fine." Now that he was not moving, Naruto was starting to slump at the table and almost asleep.

That caused Sasuke a bit of surprise. "So where is Sakura?"

"She's resting. Slacker is a bit tired," the auburn-haired girl said as she tested the soup.

Sasuke grunted at that.

The girls had finished the quick breakfast and everyone quickly ate in silence, too tired to really muster much conversation.

"So tomorrow is the big day?" Haku asked cheerfully.

Naruto's snore was not quite the answer she expected. Sasuke and Ringoame both nodded though.

"I guess our teachers all decided that we needed a real day of rest," Ringoame said in deep consideration. "I want to do things though." Her voice was filled with complaint and suffering.

Sasuke tried to _not _look like he wanted to run away. "I'm going to do some reading up in my room." He retreated quite quickly.

The younger kunoichi looked at Naruto with a small, fond smile. "I guess we should put Naruto to bed." She was blushing at that thought.

Haku just sighed. The dynamics of this household were going to be complicated, she decided.

* * *

The nine prospective chunin sat at the front edge of the amphitheater, looking down over the oval 'ring' of dirt and grass, with trees at the edge of the area.

Temari and Kankuro were glaring at the Leaf Ninja as they talked to Gaara who looked more pale than ever.

"Gaara, just make sure to make it to the finals. Then follow the plan," Kankuro was saying softly.

"This is our only chance to show that our village is still a power to be reckoned with," the sister said to her two siblings.

"I know. Now shut up or I'll kill you," the red-headed boy said in an almost growl as he looked at 'Team Sharingan'. Each one of them would be destroyed by him, he swore to his dead mother.

The Hokage and the Kazekage presided over the contest, both giving a small introduction speech. The Third Hokage greeted all of the many visiting dignitaries, while not drawing attention to the many missing nations. The representative of Sound had been expelled weeks ago even as ANBU squads had scoured the surrounding areas to chase out any foreign ninja.

"I will now turn this time over for a small speech from the Fourth Kazekage," the hosting leader said.

The robed and cowled figure wearing stood up. "Here we show the fruits of the Hidden Villages and our power. Show your might to the world," he called out in a strong voice.

Gekko Hayate's cough drew everyone's attention back down to the arena floor. "Hinata Hyuga and Rock Lee, please come down." As soon as the two genin were down by him, facing each other across twenty feet, he continued. "Fight until knockout, death or until you can not continue." With a swirl of leaves, he appeared back up by the other Proctors of the exam.

Rock Lee took up a taijitsu stance. His large eyes held no animosity under his brows as he concentrated. "You are not the foe I planned to fight, but I will show the world the strength of my genius of hard work against _a_ Hyuga today."

"I am no genius, but I too will show those I care about that I can overcome my fate," Hinata said softly as she slid into her own, softer stance.

"Yosh! Then let us do our best!" Lee then charged forward in a blindingly fast sprint.

Hinata had her Byakugan active, moving with surprising speed as she bent backwards to avoid having her head taken off by the bowl-haircut boy's kick. Her fingers seemed to barely brush his leg, but Lee immediately pulled back.

The Hyuga Heiress charged back at him, seizing the initiative. With a quick feint to his arms, she suddenly switched to a finger-jab that slipped through his guard. His whole arm seemed to shudder, but Lee was made of very stern stuff and kept fighting.

Her Byakugan saw as chakra drifted through his arms as he unlocked his first gate and into the bandages on his arms. He suddenly blurred faster than she could directly react. His kick lifted her up and into the air with punishing force. He appeared behind her in a burst of speed as the bandages started to wrap around her.

With that, he slammed them both into the ground with explosive force.

"Whoa! Is Hinata okay?" Ino asked worriedly.

"Fuzzy-brow missed," Naruto said with conviction. "He let her observe his Lotus Blossom during the semifinals, after all."

"That will be a bother to him, as it doesn't appear that he has a lot of different techniques other than pure taijitsu. Which is fairly suicidal against a Hyuga," Shikamaru said with an aggravated look as he leaned over. He filed away that Naruto's Sharingan did allow him to see things that were too fast for normal eyes to follow.

Sasuke and Sakura nodded as they watched. They did not have their Sharingans activated, but that was only because they did not want to wear themselves out before their own matches. That was something that Naruto did not have to worry about.

Lee pulled himself out of his crater looking around frantically for his foe. He found her about fifty feet away, holding her left arm to her ribs and trying to move behind the line of trees. With a confident smirk, he opened his second gate, the Gate of Life, and charged across the field before she could escape his burst speed radius. Hinata ducked under his first kick again, but not his three follow-up punches... that dispelled a classic illusionary clone.

That was when Hinata appeared as her genjitsu of camouflage dropped, striking at six chakra locations on his back to paralyze his lower back and legs. She had actually been behind the tree.

But there was nothing wrong with his speed and he had seen a bare glimmer of distorted air in his peripheral vision. So he actually threw himself through where the illusion clone had been, opening up the distance slightly.

Hinata was able to start breathing hard, fighting the terrible pain of her bruised or broken ribs. At this rate, she was going to lose. Again. Above and behind Lee, Naruto's smiling face was just at the edge of her area of view, steeling her nerves.

"That was very close!" Lee admitted with a happy grin. "But I have your measure. I am faster and stronger at taijitsu." He started to go through the physical and mental preparations to open the third, inner-gate.

"That is true. You are stronger than I could become in a month. So I will not try to match you directly. I will use my own strengths against you," Hinata declared in a stronger voice. Her fingers went through a genjitsu that she used... upon herself. This new technique had been accidentally discovered while she was being trained this week. Kurenai Yui thought it was possibly a revolutionary new technique and possibly the re-discovery of a powerful technique that might make Konoha _the_ premiere Hidden Village for centuries.

Lee was not sure what she had done, so dispelled any genjitsu that might be upon him. He knew that he had to worry about that and he knew who Hinata's team jonin was. "That was foolish and a waste of your power," he bluffed.

Hinata merely nodded, then used the replacement technique.

Naruto's mouth dropped as he saw the girl flicker between the two locations... while striking twice in the middle. One of the attacks cleanly missed by three feet, but the second one landed home on Lee's kidney with her juken strike.

Lee just blinked as he suddenly doubled over, realizing what Hinata had done even if he had not seen it. "How can you move so fast?" He suddenly blitzed forward to quickly overwhelm her.

She disappeared again. This time Naruto was joined by Sakura _and_ Sasuke in watching her strange double-strike again, but this time missed ahead of the very fast moving Lee.

"She's able to strike while moving that fast?" Shikamaru asked with his mouth dropped open. "That's like _jonin_ speed."

Naruto was going back over what he was seeing. The replacement technique she was using was almost genin standard. So it must be that jitsu she cast on herself first. His fingers made the seal, unraveling the chakra strands into himself.

And he saw everything slow down all of a sudden as he felt the genjitsu take affect. It felt like he was moving through molasses as he tried to move. Then he saw Hinata finish off Lee as she moved in strobe-like flickers. At the shock, he dropped the genjitsu. "That's _it!_"

Sasuke, Sakura and Shikamaru all whipped around to look at Naruto as Lee collapsed, paralyzed even as Hinata appeared across the arena, panting and holding her hurt ribs.

"Well? Explain?" Ino asked crabbily.

Naruto opened his mouth... then closed it. "No. If it works like I _think_ it does, it's probably at least an A-Rank jitsu. And Hinata hasn't even perfected it yet."

The other genin (except Gaara) were suddenly frowning as they realized one of the stronger challengers had just moved to an upper-tier in level.

"Hinata Hyuga is the winner," Gekko called out after a minute.

The young heiress kneeled next to him and started to open the chakra-points carefully.

"Truly the Byakugan is a wonder," Lee tried to say gamely, hiding his tears.

"Ahem... I really didn't win that with just the juken and the Byakugan, so my father will probably not be too happy," the girl said softly.

That caused the young boy to deeply consider. "But you are a winner, so that says something."

Hinata wondered exactly how many fights with her clan were won because they thought their bloodline limit made them superior to others in a fight.

"That was cool," Naruto thought aloud. Other than the genjitsu, that had been rather simple in a cunning way. Lee had lost because he had tried to deal with it like a slugging match. Even if Lee had won by pure brute power, would he have made chunin? "Come on over here, Lee! This is still the best place to watch the matches."

Lee's huge eyebrows rose up under his bowl haircut. He had thought he would be expelled from the contestant line up.

Sakura smiled. "If Temari and Kankuro can be here, so can you."

Gekko Hayate was calling down the next combatants.

Sasuke and Tenten jumped down with lithe grace. The slightly older kunoichi hid it well, but she was actually slightly intimidated by the Uchiha.

The Proctor finished explaining the same rules over the roar of the crowd.

Sasuke had to hide his grin as he saw Tenten figuring the distance between them carefully. Just like against Kankuro. He had planned for this and forced Kakashi to teach him a genjitsu that he could use with his Sharingan. Just like the jonin had used against Zabuza. This was one a little devious, if he had to say so himself.

Naruto frowned, then smiled as he saw what Sasuke was doing. "Oh, that's sneaky. Poor Tenten."

Shikamaru and Ino were _not_ used to Naruto saying very smart things. "Why's that, dead last?" Ino asked in derision.

"Because she's going to miss. A lot."

Naruto was proven correctly as Tenten did start to miss a lot, even as the air filled with weapons. It was like a weapons shop was being thrown at Sasuke. The only things missing were a black smith's hammer and an anvil.

Oh, there they went.

"How?" Tenten demanded in a rage. He was not moving that fast. Even using her twin dragon rising technique would be useless.

"I can see the future," Sasuke stated in an arrogant tone designed to frustrate his opponnent. "And you lose." That would rile her up. And really, she had not even attempted just a single punch. His estimation of her skill had plummeted. She was a one-trick pony.

She then in desperation and annoyance with Sasuke tried kick him in between the legs. It was petty and an impulse but at this point she really didn't think she had anything to lose in doing that.

It was woefully slow for someone with the Sharingan. Sasuke also found it vaguely funny.

"I know Lee can't use chakra," Sasuke commented like he was talking about the weather. "I thought the rest of his genin team could. I guess I was misinformed."

Tenten threw a kunai at Sasuke. He easily avoided it when Tenten yelled, "Dynamic Entry!" It was better than nothing, after all. She came flying at Sasuke.

After a minute of traded punches and kicks, she really was convinced that Sasuke _was_ seeing the future. And when that did not work, she found her lack of other tactics... lacking. Just like Sasuke had said.

She was covered in bruises and definitely not feeling well. It was not until he slid under her to kick her into the air that she realized that the fight was likely over. Sasuke's Lotus Blossom left her pancaked in the dirt and unable to continue, but mercilessly just awake enough to hear the Proctor call out Sasuke's win.

"Well, Forehead," Ino said with a grin. "I didn't show all my tricks when I fought Shino."

"Like you have anything interesting." Sakura smirked as they both landed in the middle of the area. "Ino-piggie, this is not about Sasuke. Even if he hates girly-girls. This is about us as rivals."

That got the young blonde to frown. And coming from Sakura made it very likely. "Right this is about us."

Both of them moved their Leaf head-protectors to their foreheads as Gekko Hayate explained the rules and then started the match.

"Since Sasuke doesn't like women that are girlie, I'll just cut my hair short. It's been a pain in the ass anyways." Ino cut off her long ponytail.

Sakura looked at her oddly as her Sharingan activated for just a second as the long blonde tresses covered the floor. With a sigh, Sakura made three hand seals and then with a low blast of water, sent the hair to wrap around a tree under the stands. "You do know the Sharingan can see chakra, right?"

Ino snarled at the unfairness, but nodded. She had just been hoping that Sakura would not bother after her act. "You're a bit more paranoid than I thought you would be."

In the stands Shino watched with interest. The more he saw of Ino the more he realized she was more then he thought she was. But he was still going to remember her defeating him bitterly.

"Let's see how your taijitsu fares then." Ino suddenly charged forward, only to be met head on by Sakura.

Punch was met by block, even as kicks and knees were deflected. Ino pursed her lips as she realized that the other kunoichi was hitting a lot harder and with faster punches. She was having to defend more than attack. And that was galling to admit.

It was time to up the ante, as if she did not do anything, she was going to be crushed by her rival. While she was not going to use her possession jitsu, she could use her disruption technique with quick one-handed seals. She would have to thank Haku for that later.

Sakura suddenly found herself curling up in nausea, only to take a full power knee to her stomach.

_'Move over!'_ Ringoame mentally shouted, taking over their body to land on her toes and one hand's finger-tips. "That was your one, free shot, bitch!"

Ino blinked as she realized Sakura had somehow already recovered. That should not have been possible. "Losing what little manners you learned from me... hag?"

Sakura burst from her 'starting position' leaving a small crater behind, dropping a heel-kick down on the spot that Ino had just vacated. There was a large explosion of dust from the new crater that appeared.

From the stands a roar of shock had erupted. They had not seen that technique used in a chunin exam in almost thirty-five years.

"Who is that girl?" one of the older men asked. "Is she a new Senju?"

"What the hell was that?" Ino asked worriedly.

"That's Ringoame's (me!) favorite technique. We haven't perfected it, but I love smashing boulders!" the personality exclaimed loudly.

Ino just blinked. "Oh, great. I'm going to be beaten by a _crazy_ rival. Wonderful."

"You better believe it!" Ringoame called out, suddenly moving much faster in a burst as her feet stuck to the dirt ground with chakra for traction.

The blonde barely had a moment to move both arms to block the attack, which still launched her thirty feet backwards. "What a monstrous strength," she complained. But she was very linear and liked to charge straight ahead. As Sakura charged forward again, Ino managed to guess where she would end up to send another disorientating attack, sending the auburn-dyed girl spinning across the ground.

_'Suika!'_ Ringoame shouted as she realized that Sakura was not quite recovered yet.

Ino's dropping heel kick slammed to the ground where Sakura's head had been.

"I'm sorry, Ino, but I can not allow you to win," the battered girl said as she seemed to almost float to her feet in a series of several spins.

"You aren't Sakura or Ringo-me are you?" the kunoichi asked with a frown.

Her answer as a zig-zag charge at frankly ludicrous speeds. Her strength was lower than the other two personalities, but she was much, much faster.

Shikamaru and Lee just stared as Sakura 'schooled' Ino in the fine arts of taijitsu.

Sakura let Ino back away as her primary personality took over. "You fought very well, Ino. But I've been training this hard since we left the academy."

"Why?" Ino asked through her panting as he wiped blood from her lips.

"So I can be there for my team when they need me," she admitted. "I still feel weak compared to them, but I am stronger."

"I haven't lost yet," her opponent snapped out.

Sakura just went through several hand-seals in a blindingly fast pace and then slammed her hand down on the ground. Ino was just starting to move, but her battered body betrayed her and was not quite quick enough to leap out of the earth ninjitsu that buried her up to her neck.

One hand moulded the earth into near rock hardness while Sakura's other hand held a kunai up to Ino's throat. "Proctor, I do not think that Ino can continue."

Ino just bit the inside of her cheek. At least Sakura had not forced her to concede.

The Proctor agreed, then called for the last of the 'first round' challenges to come down.

Naruto stared at Gaara from thirty feet away as Gekko explained the rules yet again to both of them, then started the fight.

"You will validate my existence," the young red-head said as his bloodshot green eyes focused on his foe.

"Is that all?" Naruto said with a cheesy grin, looking quite at odds with his double-tomoe Sharingan eyes. "I'm going to make everyone acknowledge my existence! You better believe it!"

"You will never be acknowledged, because I will feed your blood to Mother," Gaara said as he suddenly lashed out with his sand.

Gekko and Naruto both dodged. The sand lazily blocked both kunai that Naruto used as a counter-attack.

Then it blocked both fireballs that Naruto sent out and nearly skewered him in return with a spike of sand. Only his active Sharingan had allowed him to see the strikes coming at him with super-human speed.

"Is that all you got?" Naruto cat-called as he went through several handseals, creating an incandescent ball of fire in his hand. The next spike of sand he met head on, melting it down to droplets of bubbling glass.

Gaara frowned, then just shook his head slightly. Behind his back he made a small ball of sand. His eye technique would be very useful in a bit as he tried to kill the pathetic Sharingan user in front of him. "I guess I will have to validate my existence upon another Uchiha," he muttered.

Naruto frowned as his plan to melt the sand so it was glass was working way too slow. Time for Plan B. With a poof of smoke, he created over a hundred clones to rush forward and to try to hammer through the sand.

Gaara merely raised a wall of sand around him and then spun it like a saw blade, dispersing the attack in blinding smoke.

"Here I come!" Naruto shouted as he unleashed a horizontal tornado at Gaara, shocking everyone in the stands as the wind blasted right through the wall of sand.

Gaara seemed to look at him for a long moment, a hole punched through his shoulder... before the sand-clone blew away on the wind.

"Oh, crap!" Naruto started to look around frantically. That's when he felt the ground below him give away as he was suddenly encompassed in darkness, his arms and legs making a sickening crunch to the horrified screams of Sakura and Hinata.

"More. I need more blood for Mother," Gaara said in a creepy voice as he rose from the ground as if using a hidden elevator. He raised his hand even as Kakashi and Yamato flashed forward at him.

_Naruto abruptly found himself in a festering sewer, the hot breath of fetid steam in his nostrils. Behind massive, rusty bars (and a small paper seal) a voice spoke. "Do you wish to live?"_

_"Of course I do! Who are you- Wait, you're the Kitsune Nine-Tails. What's going on?" the young Sharingan user shouted._

_"You are about to be crushed to death by Shukaku, the One-Tail. To be so defeated by such a pathetic demon is something that can not be let to happen," the Kyubi said in a wordless snarl. It smiled nastily, letting the screams of two girl's voices echo in the room. "Release me! So that I can save you!"_

_"No way in hell! You'll just destroy everything I care about. Give me your power! You're living in my body, so it's time to pay rent!" He would not trust the demon that nearly destroyed Konoha. His Sharingan flickered and spun, three tomoe in each eye for the very first time._

_The demon laughed from the darkness behind the bars. "Wonderful! Those eyes! I'll grant your request this time, Naruto Uchiha." It's laughter roared from the blackness as..._

...the sand around Naruto started to vibrate under intense pressure.

Kakashi and Yamato stopped as cracking bones and an earthing shattering roar almost shattered the Desert Coffin.

"What-? What is he?" Gaara asked softly even as he sent more sand to try and crush the figure.

A claw made of red chakra ripped a hole in the side of the sphere as if it truly were just weak sand.

The Third Hokage suddenly stood up. "No. It can not escape now."

The Fourth Kazekage was watching just as intently. This had become a battle of Jinchuriki. Demon Containers.

With a massive snarl, Naruto exploded out of the sand. His eyes were glowing red with three spinning tomoe in each eye. His 'whiskers' were quite enhanced, as were his claws. A glowing chakra form of a fox-monster encompassed him. The killing intent that escaped from him smothered the civilians, some of whom lost control of their bladders.

Gaara realized immediately what he was seeing. This was a demon, just like the One-Tail bound within him. There was only one way he would win this fight now.

"I'll need to stop him," Yamato shouted to Gekko, who looked shocked. He was just starting to go through the seals to summon the bloodline limit within his body when he felt _another_ shocking presence... behind him. He and Kakashi turned around to see Gaara's head bowing down as if he were falling- asleep?

Sand exploded from the gourd, forming a massive and growing body even as it sprouted a single tail. It's aura was overpowering, causing Naruto to flinch under its weight.

The Kazekage nodded to himself. "Well, I guess that's the signal... eh, Professor?"

Hiruzen Saratobi narrowed his eyes as he realized what was going on. Behind him, outside the edge of the city a massive snake appeared as if summoned to smash through the walls. "Orochimaru. So you were not here only for the Sharingan."

The Snake Sennin had a small kunai up to the old man's neck even as he ripped away his false-face of the Kazekage. "Indeed, I was here to crush Konoha and kill you. But my invasion plans have been derailed by your Sharingan brats. So I'll just have to settle for just killing you."

Out on a roof in Konoha, Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he bit his thumb and slammed down his hand as he imbued a huge amount of chakra into his summoning technique.

In a massive poof of smoke, the 'boss toad' Gamabunta appeared, towering over the buildings of Konoha. "Why'd you summon me, Jiraiya?"

"No time for pleasantries today, Gamabunta. Let's take out that snake in one hit!" the Toad Sennin shouted out with a smirk of combat driven happiness.

The Third Hokage managed to disrupt Orochimaru's control of his arm and escape without a scratch, but the sennin _then_ managed to disrupt the touch genjitsu by jabbing the kunai into his own hand.

They both flipped up onto the roof of the VIP booth of the arena.

"It's just you and I, now old teacher," the Snake Senin said.

That was when the two bodyguards of the 'Kazekage' broke into four figures. Each one wore the symbol of the new Hidden Village of Sound. Taking position at four corners, they created a barrier even as Hiruzen showed that he was prepared to fight, ready in his armored battle-gear.

Shukaku tried to flatten Naruto in front of him down below, but was finding that the figure was far too fast.

Someone tried to use a genjitsu to put everyone in the stadium to sleep, but there was far too much demonic killing intent in the air. Kakashi and Yamato flashed out of the way, leaving a swirl of leaves behind them.

"Naruto seems to be still in control," the older jonin said.

"Protect the Hokage!" came a shout from the roof, dragging both of their attentions away from the jinchuriki battle.

An ANBU almost made it through the barrier that was being created, but immolated instantly. Yamato and Kakashi both winced as they recognized the death of one of their comrades.

"This was not part of the plan," Temari said to Kankuro. "What's going on?"

"Gaara's losing it already? We're all going to die. And what's with that loudmouth?" the puppet user as he looked on Naruto as he blocked an impossibly huge attack.

Shikamaru and Sasuke had both been listening to them. Sharing a quick nod, they both attacked the two Sand genin. Temari was just starting to reach for her war fan when her hand froze.

"I don't suggest trying anything," Sasuke said to the puppet user as Kankuro realized he was surrounded by remaining genin. "Tell us what this is about. Quickly."

Down in the arena itself, Hinata and Sakura were regretting their instant reaction as they avoided swipes of chakra infused sand and the almost invisible form of Naruto dashing around.

"We need to wake up Gaara," Hinata called out. "He put himself to sleep to call up the demon."

"That explains his bloodshot eyes," Sakura muttered as she wished she had a fire as her primary element. Then she might have a chance to turn all the sand to glass. Of course, she saw how well that had worked when Naruto tried that. Though fire wasn't Naruto's primary element either.

That was when both of the genin disappeared just before Shukaku could step on them with an earth-shaking smash.

"You two stay out of this fight. This is far beyond you," Kakashi said.

"I'm borrowing your student, Kakashi," Yamato said before he snagged Sakura who squawked at the indignity and leaped up to the roof where energies were blocking the ANBU from protecting the Hokage.

Inside the rectangle, the four Sound Ninja concentrated on their double-layered ward.

"Tenzo, there's no way through," the raven-masked ANBU called out.

"I refuse to believe that. Naruto says you can sometimes get the most out of your Sharingan, Sakura. So prove it... show us the weakness of this barrier," Yamato said with an incredibly cold voice.

"Of course I will." Adrenaline hyped her activation as three tomoe appeared in her left eye, even as her right eye burned. She clapped a hand over the normal eye. "Should I be looking for the point with the greatest energy or the least amount?"

"The greatest energy, genin," Raven immediately called out.

"Are you ready?" she called out. At their nods, which she saw from her peripheral vision, she suddenly snapped out, "There! Five feet up!" She was pointing towards the further corner.

Yamato had already started making his hand seals, instantly sending branches of a tree into the directed spot. The wood burned and sputtered and then finally broke through. Three ANBU were immediately through the breach, stabbing at the surprised ninja and breaking his concentration

"That's not supposed to be possible!" the chunky bodyguard of Orochimaru shouted even as his arms bled from blocking the straight blades from cutting his neck..

Orochimaru looked over in shock as he realized that his ward had been broken through. "How did you plan for this, Hiruzen?"

"This, Orochimaru, is the Will of Fire. It has inflamed the younger generation. You will not succeed this day," the Third Hokage said with a grim smile that hid how very tired he really was.

They both started to go through dozens of handseals, before the Snake Sennin had to dodge a tree that grew from the rooftop and almost crushed him.

"One of them survived..." he snarled as he looked at the flat anger of the unknown jonin. "Retreat!" he called out.

It was too late for two of his bodyguards. With a very fast summoning jitsu, he summoned a large snake that swallowed him and his last two bodyguards, then disappeared.

Back down below, Shukaku was flailing around as civilians screamed and tried to flee. Naruto suddenly appeared on the edge of the arena as he blocked the One-Tail from crushing ten people.

"Hey! You could have hurt someone with that!" Naruto yelled, his voice distorted but still clearly understood.

Shukaku let out an inhuman roar and tried to swat Naruto like he was an extremely annoying fly. The loud ninja dodged the massive hand and ran up the arm. He let out an incredible burst of wind that literally blew Shukaku's right arm off.

"Naruto... are you in control?" Kakashi asked from Naruto's right-side and from behind.

"Nhhn- Barely. The Kyubi pays rent in bad money," he complained with a growl.

Kakashi really did not want to know. "I'm going to kill Gaara when you give me the opening." In a flash, he dodged a swipe.

"No way! I'm going to wake him up and beat him fair!" Naruto growled as he charged. All he was doing was dodging and hitting the other sand. He just wasn't powerful enough. _'I need more power!'_

A burning sensation suddenly covered him as the chakra sheath around him grew thicker and darker, then split off a wavering tendril in the shape of a bushy tail.

Shukaku snarled his anger as the other jinchuriki was suddenly matching him. "Damn you, Kyubi, for being so powerful!" its roar screamed, terrifying even more people.

Now that Naruto actually had his 'own' tail, he was blisteringly faster, almost blurring in jonin-level of speeds.

The crowed was still mewling around in confusion. The evil chakra in the air was overwhelming when Kakashi blasted Shukaku's right paw apart like a bolt of lightning. "Now, Naruto!"

Konoha's own jinchuriki needed no other prompting, exploding through the cloud of sand from his team leader's Chidori. The demon-raccoon roared in anger as Naruto came through his weakened defenses and saw Gaara on the massive sand beast's head.

Naruto would not be surprised if Shukaku was so over confident that he could have his container sleep on his head.

"Coffee call!" Naruto said as he hit Gaara with an axe kick.

Not only did the kick hit the other boy with stunning force, it also physically disconnected him from the sand. Gaara's sleep deprived eyes snapped open. "Mother!" he screamed, trying to claw back his sand with outreached hands.

"Let's finish this!" Naruto shouted as he let the evil chakra fade away.

The crowd blinked as the evil feeling from over a decade ago faded away, leaving them in the presence of the still continuing fight.

Temari and Kankuro's jaws were slack in shock. The blond loudmouth had beaten Shukaku.

"Stay back!" Gaara cried out, fearing for his life for the first time. He struggled to his feet, the sand listless as it swirled around him.

"Naruto Uzumaki special attack!" the other boy shouted as he charged. He slide under Gaara and launched him into the air in a flurry of kicks, then disappeared. In a flash, he was behind the red-head, blasting him back down to a section of ground that was not covered in sand.

"Hey Proctor! I don't think he can continue!" Naruto shouted out, as he stood over the insensate form of the defeated genin in a crater.

The examiner nodded slowly at that. "Winner: Naruto Uzumaki of Clan Uchiha!"

"Wahoooo!" he shouted as he started to dance a victory jib around the fallen genin. "I won! Just you wait, Sasuke! I'm going to show everyone how strong I've become!"

A titter of laughter drifted up, slowly picked up by a child that stopped crying in surprise. Another older man started laughing and suddenly the panic gave way to uproarous laughter. Then they started cheering.

Sasuke and the rest of the chunin-hopefuls just shook their head. "I guess he is finally finding that acceptance he's always wanted," the older Uchiha said softly.

"If they don't make him a Special Jonin for this, I don't know what he has to do," Shikamaru commented. _How bothersome._

"The Chunin Exams is currently on hold. There will be a recess as the arena is checked for assassins!" one of the ANBU called out from the roof.

"Assassins?" Naruto started to look around, noting that Sakura was missing while the other genins had captured the other two 'Sand Siblings'. With a quick scurry, Naruto scrambled up the wall. "What's this talk about assassins? Where's Sakura?"

"Someone attacked the Hokage-" Shikamaru started to explain, causing Naruto to panic.

"Old Man?" Naruto shouted, running towards the VIP box. He let loose a breath when he saw the old man walking with a group of ANBU, jonin and Sakura. "Hey, Old Man!" he shouted again, tackling him about the waist. "You're all right?" his dark-blue eyes had tears in them.

"I'm all right, Naruto. See?" the Hokage said as he patted him on top of his head.

The young man hid his tears by burying his head in the stomach of the Hokage's battle-garb. "I wasn't worried. You're the Hokage and strongest of the Leaf."

Sakura nodded to herself. She had known that Naruto had a special relationship with the old man, but had not realized how strong it was. He was pretty much a grandson to the Hokage, which was fitting given Konohamaru looked up to Naruto as an older brother.

"I suggest canceling the rest of the chunin exam," Gekko Hayate said with a small cough. "We have enough information to base our decision." He was kneeling in front of the hokage.

"Even on Shikamaru Nara and Naruto Uzumaki?" the Hokage asked.

"Even them. Shikamaru's performance against Kiba Inuzuka was quite interesting," Gekko explained. "I believe we have consensus on Hinata Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Naruto Uzumaki all being moved to Chunin. They were a very strong group this year. Naruto really surprised us."

"You don't feel that Rock Lee or Tenten should advance?" the Hokage asked.

"We do not feel they are quite in a position to have overcome their weaknesses. Hopefully they learn from this exam and continue to grow stronger."

"Then let us make the announcement." The Hokage went down to the VIP balcony. "Ladies and gentlemen, the proctors have come to an early decision due to the irregularities of the exam."

Gekko Hayate took over, explaining which genin had advanced to chunin. Several of the genin that had been promoted felt that Naruto should have been made a Special Jonin for his fight.

"There is only one thing left to go over. Gaara and his siblings will be held here as a high level peace conference is called between the Sand and the Leaf. Temari of the Leaf, your Kazekage is dead; murdered at the hands of Orochimaru."

"What?" the blonde screamed from between two ANBU. "You are lying!"

"The man you saw at my side today was not the Fourth Kazekage, but Orochimaru disguised using his face. The... technique he used is quite fatal and vile." The Hokage held her gaze until she could no longer meet his eyes.

Now it was time to deal with the fallout.

* * *

The next morning, the Hokage looked over as a figure knocked on the outside of the bay view of the Hokage tower. "Jiraiya. I thought I saw Gamabunta out there."

"Yeah, we got some exercise yesterday," the Toad Sennin said with a grin.

"So, do you have the answer to my question?"

"No way, old man. It would be a disaster of epic proportions if you made me Hokage. And your jonin know it too."

"That does not leave a lot of choices available, Jiraiya." The old man sighed as he filled his tobacco pipe and lit it. "The only other one I could see of your generation is Tsunade. And I doubt she would consent."

"You have to ask first. And you might be surprised, depending on who you send out." Jiraiya flipped upside down for a second, then walked over to his desk. "How about you let me borrow a ninja or two to go after her?"

"Naruto? And Sakura? I saw that you had been training her." The Hokage puffed his pipe a bit. "Orochimaru is still out there, too. Morino Ibiki broke Temari and Kankuro. The Hidden Village of Sound is his creation. His attack upon me was a declaration of war. The Leaf will crush his village."

"Leading a war is tough business, old man," the white-haired man said as he considered it. "So that's why you want a successor. She won't want to fight a war."

"We won't go to war quite yet, but it will have to happen." The Hokage was only speaking the absolute truth.

"And neither of us want Danzo in charge for that."

Both men looked uncomfortable even thinking about Danzo leading Leaf. The things they man did his ROOT forces were really disturbing. They were like flesh versions of the clockwork robots used in the Jonin training areas. And the pair were fairly sure Danzo would run for cover the instant his life was put in danger. All things that made Danzo completely unworthy of being Hokage.

"Very well, I will assign Team 7 to go with you. If she says no, I want her to tell me herself _why_. Do you understand?" Hiruzen Saratobi was not normally a hard man, but he showed why he was the most feared ninja of Konoha.

Jiraiya blinked, looking at his old teacher in a hard light. "Of course, Hokage."

As Jiraiya departed, the Hokage called in his secretary to summon Kakashi Hatake. The Hokage had spent the time while waiting for Kakashi (a remarkably short half hour) clearing the room of any surveliance. "Team 7 has a B Rank mission. You are to accompany Jiraiya on a mission to recruit Tsunade." He'd kicked out one of Jiraiya's toads with a warning not to spy on him again. "You will also have a personal S Rank mission. If Tsunade attempts to go anywhere other than to Konoha to either accept the position of Hokage or explain to myself why she thinks she is not acceptable, you are to kill her as a Missing Ninja."

Kakashi let his one eye consider the person making the request. "I assume that I may have to deal with Jiraiya also?"

"You should be able to use his gullibiliaty against him, but do not attempt to fight both of them in any case."

"And should I have my team assist?"

"They are your soldiers and all chunin now. There is a reason I told you to train them as hard as I did," the old man said gruffily.

"Of course." That was enough of an answer for now.

* * *

Naruto was looking around, spotting his team leader. "Kakashi! What is our mission?" Sakura and Sasuke were already there with him at the north gate of Konoha.

"We're to accompany Jiraiya as he makes an offer to the Slug Sennin, Tsunade," the jonin said.

Sakura blinked while Sasuke frowned.

"An offer?" the Uchiha head of house asked.

"That's up to Jiraiya if he wants to tell us or not. This mission may take us a few months." Kakashi knew that his team had packed everything they needed.

"Let's go!" Naruto cheered. He hoped he could get out of those etiquette lessons because of this. Seriously a fork was a fork. It didn't matter if it was for salad or whatever. Same with spoons. And who cared if tea was poured left or right?

"We have to wait for Jiraiya," the jonin noted aloud.

"Oh, yeah. So where is he?" Naruto was looking around frantically. He activated his Sharingan to help him.

"Probably at the nearest bath house," Sakura complained. "He is such a-"

"There you are! That's a really cool jitsu! Teach me!" Naruto bellowed as he charged over to the mostly invisible sennin.

At Naruto's shout, both of the other chunin had activated their Sharingan.

"A self-genjitsu... interesting," Sakura said in considering thought. It must anchor itself, but how to keep it from affecting yourself?

"I'm not teaching that to you," Jiraiya snapped as he dropped the mirage invisibility. "Man, that's why I don't like eyes like that."

"Then you are definitely in the wrong team," Sasuke noted in a cold tone. "We have all but one pair of Sharingans in our team." His fist clenched tight at that.

"Ah, come on! It looks really cool. And I can finally be stealthy!" Naruto whined louder.

"Naruto, you can bug him later. We need to go now," Kakashi called out.

"And he's really a chunin?" the Toad Sennin asked.

"Are you really a sennin and not a pervert?" Sakura shot right back.

"I'm a super-pervert! Remember it!"

Naruto _and _Sasuke just looked at the old man in shock. Sakura just sighed.

Kakashi just sighed. This was going to be a long trip. He also remembered a bit of advice his sensei gave him about going on any long term mission with Jiraiya. And that was to keep him sober and out of the arms of women. Otherwise the mission would be three times as long.


	4. Whom would be Hokage

The two travelers stood on the war ravaged walls of Konoha. Luckily for them the wards that normally warned the Hokage of intruders were damaged by the recent attack.

"So this is your home town?" the shark-like man said under his straw hat..

Itachi Uchiha nodded, without a verbal reply.

"Well, let's find the Kyubi host," Kisame Hoshigaki said with a truly terrifying grin showing his shark-like teeth.

Four hours later, they had discovered that the jinchuriki had left with his team on an escort mission of a priest of some sort. Itachi did not get the description that Kisame had finagled out of a pickpocket, so did not think heavily on the matter.

He was too busy thinking hard on the matter of the jinchuriki being a lost Uchiha. And that somehow they could _give_ the Sharingan to a girl. "Let's continue. We can separate Kakashi Hatake from his team and take the jinchuriki."

"How are you going to deal with your brother?" the missing ninja of the Mist asked.

Itachi just ignored the question. It was beneath him at this time, after all.

* * *

Jiraiya was sure of one thing. The Uchiha were all rolling in their graves. His godson being the heir of the Uchiha was equal parts amusing, insane and scary. The only way it could be even more bizarre is if that Obito kid that Minato trained was alive today and head of the clan.

And a Haruno with a Sharingan that one personality fawned over the stand offish Sasuke and another really liked Naruto just added to the madness. He was taking close notes of the situation for inspiration for his next novels. If he was aware of the Hyuuga heiress having a huge crush on Naruto then Jiraiya would think he'd have enough material for a series to keep him in sake and loose women for a decade.

It made Jiraiya a bit sad that Minato didn't live to see this. He and Kushina would have been proud of the man Naruto was becoming. Jiraiya did wish Naruto would stop asking about his transparency jitsu he used to hide so kunochi wouldn't turn him into a pinata. And Kakashi was being a real drag. Didn't he know the sennin ran off booze more then any other substance known to ninjas?

"Jeeze, Naruto, haven't you ever been to a fair before?" Sakura asked while resisting the urge to hit him. '_Quit bullying my Naruto, dammit!'_

"Um, I haven't," the blond Uchiha replied. "I've never seen anything like this. It's so-oooo cool!"

"Naruto..." Sasuke seethed out in a slow steam. "You are making the Uchiha look bad. Try to pretend to be an adult for just a little while."

Kakashi just looked on casually, hiding his mirth from his student. "Hmm." He finally felt something from his eye twinge. He slid up his head-protector. "I got it finally." Two normal looking eyes stared at them.

"You figured it out? I thought you said it was stuck?" Naruto exclaimed while pointing at him in shock.

"It was just atrophied a bit. It's like a muscle and needed to be worked back up," the jonin explained.

Jiraiya frowned at that. They all looked terribly normal at this point. In fact, only Sasuke wore the clan symbol for Uchiha on the back of his shirt. "Well, I'm going to ask around. And no, Kakashi you can't stop me. This needs to be done."

"Let's get a room. We still have a lot to discuss," their jonin leader explained.

Naruto let himself be dragged off by Sakura. The hotel they were in was quite a bit nicer than most places he had been in before. Sasuke looked bored even as he took in the whole scene.

On the south edge of town, Kisame and Itachi had arrived, still cloaked and wearing straw hats.

"How are you going to distract Kakashi?" the Mist Ninja asked. His bandaged up sword on his back almost cooed.

"I think a subtle sighting of Orochimaru talking to a disreputable man in an alley would probably work." Itachi created a flock of ravens that swept together to form the Snake Sennin.

"Hmm. Yeah, that would probably get his attention. And I doubt he'd want to drag his genin into investigating an S-Rank missing ninja." Kisame formed his own water clone, tailoring it to look like a typical and nondescript thug.

Inside the hotel, Team 7 was laying out their backpacks.

"This mission seems a lot easier than the mission to Wave," Sakura said as she stretched and popped her back.

"That... may not be true," Kakashi said. "I have a secondary mission that is top secret. I can not discuss it right now, but I may have to give you specific training for it."

Sasuke frowned as he looked at their jonin leader. He only knew of a few mission types that required the leader to not tell his subordinates. Usually spying _or_ assassination. And a spy rarely let his team ever know. More plausible deniability. "Hnn."

"Well, I have to go keep an eye on our escort. He's probably gotten himself drunk already," Kakashi said casually. He slipped out the door and was outside in a flash.

Orochimaru was already gone, but the person he had been talking to was looking in surprise down the alley and towards the rooftops. Kakashi was after the Snake Sennin in a flash.

"He must be here for Sasuke or Naruto," he said to himself. So with that, he dashed just a little bit faster.

* * *

It was the knock at the door. Naruto immediately started moving, only to be stopped by Sasuke grabbing his orange-striped jacket and a shake of his head.

There is no way there should be someone at their door. A nod and some hand signs then they had a plan. The second set of knocking was slightly more insistent. Naruto opened the door. "Hello?" he asked. "Itachi?" With a roar, Naruto punched as hard and fast at his 'cousin'.

Itachi was only slightly surprised that he would just attack, but his speed was much higher than the younger boy's and caught the fist easily.

"Feisty. I think we should chop a leg off. Maybe both of them so he can't run," Kisame said with a grin.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she charged, only to find herself impaled on Itachi's short, straight blade... and poofed into white smoke.

The older Sharingan user had his eyes with three tomoe each and was still surprised at that. "Shadow clones. Watch out."

Kisame nodded and called out, "Right!" He pulled his wrapped sword out from his back and swung right at Itachi, nearly hitting his partner. "Stay still, you little brat!"

"You idiot! You're under a genjitsu!" Itachi and Naruto both called out, confusing the older Uchiha.

"When did they do that?" the ex-Mist Ninja asked in consternation. With a huge, shark-like grin he ran his free hand along the covered and varied edges of his sword.

"Multiple shadow clones!" a voice called out from behind then, as a horde of Naruto clones suddenly engulfed them.

Itachi's Sharingan's widened in shock. "This many clones?" He let go of the original clone, but now it was trying to grab him... along with every other clone. He started killing them, even as firecrackers (firecrackers!) of all things started to go off in a deafening roar.

Kisame was quite upset in his own way, as he had not fallen for a genjitsu in ages. He hated the Sharingan for its strength at times. His sword's many shaving edges were suddenly brought up to block two kunai from inside the room. The much larger ninja glared at the auburn-haired girl with one Sharingan eye. "You... I get to kill, brat."

"You mean you get to try," she replied right back as her three-tomoe eye whirled furiously. Her original green eye ached, but she fought through it.

"Kid, you aren't anything special," the shark-like man said with a smiling sneer. More clones exploding were causing the the white smoke to almost totally blur the area as still more firecrackers were going off.

_'We'll see,' _Sakura thought as she carefully crafted her second genjitsu on him. Just increasing the noise and smoke would probably not stop him, but she did not have time to switch herself with Itachi. She carefully moved backwards silently ten feet even as she made her genjitsu make a scuffing noise closer to him.

He took the bait and tried to cut what he thought was her sneaking up. How long she could keep him distracted while the boys killed Itachi was another thing entirely.

Itachi barely managed to dodge the chirping lighting that cut the two nearest Naruto clone in twain. Blood fountained from the gash in his side.

"Damn, missed," Sasuke hissed out as his Chidori faded out. His own Sharingan eyes were whirling furiously.

The oldest Uchiha present was just activating his Mangekyo Sharingan when a horizontal tornado nearly struck him, blowing out the side of the building. "They are supposed to be genin rookies," he complained in a monotone voice.

That was when Kisame was suddenly smashed outside, to bounce off four walls. Behind him, Sakura was breathing very hard from the effort of holding up the illusion while using her chakra enhanced strength.

"Toad stomach summoning!" a voice yelled out, suddenly engulfing the area in a mucus. "Hahaha! You're stuck now, in the mighty technique of Jiriya, the Toad Sennin!"

"Kisame, you idiot. That was not a normal priest. Retreat." Itachi's eye spat out black fire that burned a hole in the stomach that he and Kisame quickly used to escape.

Sasuke growled as he stopped trying to gather together his chakra for another chidori. Jiraiya frowned as he quickly figured out a seal that would put the black fire into. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he watched from multiple angles, Sharingan eyes taking in every part of the process.

Kakashi's hand on his shoulder stopped him as he appeared out of nowhere. "He would just set up a trap. Let him retreat. We learned a lot about him. All he learned about you three is that you are far more powerful than he expected."

Jiraiya led his impromptu group to the next town, citing that his old team mate was not there.

* * *

Across the new town, Tsunade and her assistant Shizune were meeting up with Orochimaru and two of his bodyguards. The castle behind them had been collapsed by the Snake Sennin as a show of power.

"Dear Tsunade, so abused by Konoha..." he said as his robes fluttered behind him as the dust settled. The street was quite empty at this point as anyone with a bit of sanity had left quickly.

"Sympathy, Orochimaru? I'm surprised that you have any left after the things I've heard you have done," the busty, older woman said with a sad smirk.

"Ah, that is where you are quite wrong my poor team mate. My methods have always been sympathetic. To lose our loved ones is the height of cruelty." His smile seemed at odds with his sober words.

"What are you getting at, Orochimaru?" the Slug Princess asked with narrowed eyes.

"I have an enemy I must overcome, but to do that I must procure something to counter his damned bloodline limit. If you procure the eyes of an Uchiha... I will restore your lover and your brother to you."

Shizune's eyes widened even as Tsunade just frowned. The descendant of the Senju clan nodded slowly. "And if I refuse?"

"Then we may have to become implacable enemies, instead of boon allies. Or is a special set of eyes too much for two special lives?" Orochimaru hissed to her softly.

"Sharingan eyes, Orochimaru?" Her deep brown eyes studied him. "So you have been dealing with Itachi Uchiha. What plans do two S-Rank missing ninja have?"

"As always, I have been seeking to learn every jitsu and our paths crossed. I admit, I might have gotten slightly greedy about his copy-wheel eyes. I'm sure he's holding a grudge," the Snake Sennin admitted.

"A little greedy indeed. I will think about it. It's not like I am headed to Konoha. That place is accursed to me," Tsunade said as she turned and walked down the road.

"I'll be back in a week for your answer." With that, Orochimaru and his two bodyguards leaped over the low sheds and into the woods.

"Um, Miss Tsunade? What are you planning on doing?"

"I doubt the last Uchiha will just happen to land in my lap." With that, Tsunade shrugged and headed back to her gambling parlor in the city.

* * *

"Why are we looking for this lady in a gambling den?" Sakura asked Jiraiya politely. Sasuke and Naruto were looking around the building's interior in deep curiosity. As it was the middle of the day, it was not that crowded, though the gamblers seemed very intent.

"Ah, we are looking for the lady known as the Legendary Sucker!" Jiraiya took in their flummoxed expressions. "She has abysmal luck. I mean, totally bad luck. Hence the gambling name."

"And the lucky streak continues for the lady at the end of the table," the dealer in the back called out.

Tsunade was looking over her cards in shock. She had not only just won, but won large to demolish her debt in this town. "We should leave," she declared.

"But you are finally clearing your debt," Shizune almost whined.

"No, you don't understand. This is sign that something bad is about to happen-"

"Princess! If it hasn't been an age, Tsunade!" a boisterous voice called out. Jiraiya slid into the seat next to his old team mate.

"Jiraiya? Two in one day. Now I know why today is so unlucky," she shot back. Her eyes took in the three genin. "Another genin team? I would have thought your first two would have been enough."

Jiraya got a bad feeling Orichimaru was in the area. Really did Naruto have something that attracted S-Ranked Ninjas?

"My my, you seem interested in my cute team," Kakashi said as he seemingly appeared out of thin air. Even the two sennin were a bit surprised.

"Like he said, I just asked them to accompany me. Which was a good thing... for them."

All three Chunin narrowed their eyes at that. And it was annoying no one could tell they were all chunin.

"But we're not here to talk about them, but about you." Jiraiya stood up, looking as imposing as his title as Sage of the Toads would suggest. "I'm here on behest of the Council and the Third Hokage. You are needed at home, Tsunade. As the Fifth Hokage."

"I refuse. You can do it," she instantly replied. Shizune's gasp and Naruto's dropped mouth showed how shocked everyone else was.

"Well Princess," Jiraiya remarked. "You have to go back home and tell Sensei that to his face." He cracked his knuckles ominously.

"What?" the old woman demanded.

"He said if you want to turn him down, you get to do it to his face. That part is non-negotiable." Jiraiya looked like he was more than happy to start an all out brawl.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that, quite calmly. Perhaps Jiraiya knew more about what would happen to her if she did not come home.

"I can't leave right this moment. Maybe in a week." Tsunade then took a swig from her sake cup, grimacing at the fact that it had turned cold.

'These are the Sennin?' Sasuke thought. 'Who would want to train under these people?'

"How- how- how _DARE YOU!_" Naruto shouted loudly. "That's my dream you are trashing in front of me!"

"Do blonde loudmouths grow on trees?" Tsunade grumbled. "What is it to you, kid?"

Shizune started eyeing up Naruto. Depending on his skill she'd been needing to heal or bury him.

"You're just a drunk old woman hiding from herself! You don't deserve to be Hokage!" he shouted right back. "I'm going to be the best Hokage! That's my dream!"

"You dream is just a fool's desire. And I'm no fool to desire to kill myself," she countered. "That tainted dream just causes heartbreak and despair."

Sasuke just shook his head. "Naruto, you are causing a scene. Try to act like an adult. You are giving the Uchiha a bad name."

"So this is the lost Uchiha, eh? He doesn't look like anything special," the old woman said with a smirk. So easy to ferret out who they were.

Now all three Chunin were giving her a murderous look.

"You should know, these three were instrumental in disrupting Orochimaru's attack on Konoha and thanks to them, even saved the Hokage's life," Jiraiya said easily.

"These brats? You have to be kidding me!" Tsunade was giving her old teammate an incredulous look. At his nod, she studied them much closer. "They don't look like much. And the blonde looks pretty stupid."

"They are tricky like that," Kakashi said, his smile hidden under his mask.

"Graaaah!" Naruto shouted, lashing out a punch at the older woman even as Shizune just sighed. As he did not have his Sharingan active, he did not see what she did to blast him out and into the road.

"Huh," Naruto said as he got up. "Guess the old man had some good reasons for wanting her to be Hokage. Still she can't be that hard."

Naruto then recalled this woman was the one that created the techniques Sakura used at the Chunin Exams. He made a mental note to keep his distance in a fight. "Come on!" Naruto yelled out. "Put the sake down! Isn't there some support group for lushes like you and Ero-Sensei? Alcoholics something or other?"

As Tsuande stormed out of the gambling den, Shizune wondered if taking Tsunade to the AA would have helped. While Sasuke prayed that Tsunade wasn't a member of Naruto's family.

Outside, Naruto literally had a hundred Shadow Clones dogpile onto the Slug Princess. And to be fair that was to see if she had any attacks other then kicking and punching really hard. Her fist shattered the ground, sending a wave of rocks and dirt that dispersed ninety percent of the clones instantly.

"Brat, I'm going to beat you to within an inch of your life," the older woman snarled, a vein pulsing in anger on her forehead. She snagged Sakura as the auburn haired girl tried a sneak attack from behind, flinging her at a wall down the street hard enough to cave it in using her body.

The blonde Uchiha heir frowned at that. That attack seemed like overkill even to him. The wind started to pick up around Naruto. He wasn't sure if he'd hurt Tsunade with this or if he'd just give her a really bad hair cut. Naruto quickly went through the hand symbols and opened his mouth.

A huge, flat wave of wind flew out of his mouth and right at Tsunade. While Naruto had his remaining shadow clones throw their kunai where the Slug Princess would be if she dodged the attack. So when she picked up about thirty feet of the street to make a wall, he blinked in surprise. "That's not fair," he complained. She was even stronger than Sakura.

"Life isn't fair," Tsunade said with a smirk. She sidestepped the gutsy kunoichi again, only to be pelted by the explosion caused by Sakura's heel slamming into the ground.

"Dammit! Stand still!" the girl said as she charged with her own Sharingan active. She snapped out three quick punches before she had to dodge backwards from a blow.

"Sharingan eyes? I thought the lost Uchiha was a boy?" Tsunade had to move quickly as fireballs pelted the ground in earth-shattering explosions.

"Leave some for me," Sasuke said with a smirk from down the street. "Actually, it looks like you are leaving everything to me."

Tsunade was frowning slightly. The two boys both had full Sharingan eyes, while the girl had three tomoe in her dark-blue eye and her green eye only had one marking. That must be hurting from the tensed muscles around her cheek. "Team Sharingan, hmm? How did you all get Sharingan eyes after the Uchiha massacre?"

Sakura staggered, covering her original eye as she desperately tried to hold back the pain as Tsunade's words brought her attention back on it. She had thought she could work past the pain. "It hurts." She tried to stifle a whimper, but the pain was increasing.

"Shit, Sakura is bleeding," Naruto shouted as he charged over to her. "Close your eyes and try to pull your chakra back from them."

Tsunade was trembling as she spotted the blood coming from the girl's green eye. "No." Her voice was incredibly weak.

"Her blood vessels burst in her eye from using her Sharingan," said Shizune worriedly.

"But that's her original eye," Sasuke said in bewilderment as he watched the dark blood stream down her face.

"That doesn't make sense. I never had a problem with my original eye," Kakashi said from behind her. He stopped to consider things. "Actually, I have been feeling a slight strain on my regular eye ever since I figured out how to deactivate and then reactivate my Sharingan."

"Your bodies must be trying to activate the Sharingan in both eyes and the original ones can't stand the strain," Jiraiya said with a frown from about fifty feet away from where he was leaning up against a wall to watch the fight.

"I never heard of this happening before," Sasuke said sounding shocked. Even with his faded memories of before... that... he couldn't recall anyone telling him about being able to turn someone's natural eye into a Sharingan after getting an implanted eye.

On the other hand Sasuke was also unaware of Kakashi having an implanted Sharingan before meeting him. He just hoped that Kakashi and Sakura were the only people with implanted Sharingan eyes. Or heads were going to roll over how anyone else could get them.

"Kakashi, what can we do? This is my fault," Naruto asked in a very subdued manner. It was probably the least Naruto-sounding thing he had ever said.

"Well, I would have suggest having the most famed medic look at it, but she seems to be not dealing well with seeing some blood," the Copy-Cat Ninja replied.

"Miss Tsunade," Shizune said as she tried to shake her out of her stupor.

Naruto grabbed the old woman and then slapped her. "What's your problem? Sakura needs you!"

"You don't understand..." Tsunade eyes were closed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I couldn't save either of them. Just too much blood."

"And if you don't help her, she'll bleed to death because of me!" Naruto yelled. "She's important to me! You're just letting her die! How can you be so cruel?"

Jiraiya had to admit one thing, Naruto had guts. At this point anyone else that questioned the Slug Princess like that would probably be dead.

Shizune had started to work on Sakura's eye, but it was a poor mess of deforming jelly. So she was quite surprised when a green glow of healing chakra took over her work smoothly. Tsunade was breathing fairly rapidly, but even that was coming under control. The Jonin medic tried to recall every rumor she had heard about bloodlimit eye implants and if anything like this had happened before.

And was drawing as much of a blank as Sasuke and Naruto.

"I saved the eye." Tsunade looked surprised.

"Mistress Tsunade... you overcame your fear of blood! That's amazing!" Shizune said with a huge smile.

Jiraiya rubbed his chin and then pulled out a pen and some paper. Kakashi had a good idea that what inspired him was not what Shizune had in mind when she said mistress Tsunade. And the Jonin ninja wondered if he could get one of the first copies of whatever novel came out of Jiraiya's perverted brain for bringing the Toad Sennin here.

But just finding the time to read them was a chore these days. The Hokage had refused to let him read them around his students as he had to put 200 % focus on all of them. And what made that worse was the fact Naruto would be willing to tell the Hokage or he'd ask Naruto while the pair enjoyed some ramen. As the Nara clan put it... troublesome.

"So are we done then?" Naruto asked. "Gaara was easier to fight then her."

"Hnnn." Sasuke mused. As useful as Sakura was becoming, she needed some more water jutsus and recalled what the Demon of the Mist was able to do. He'd have to ask Kakashi to teach Sakura how to make water clones, to make that thick mist and some other things. Anything that could be done to keep Sakura and Naruto as strong as possible was a good thing, as they supported his effort to kill his brother.

"Jiraiya, Kakashi; we need to discuss a matter in privacy," Tsunade said as she stood up. "About Orochimaru."

The sennin and jonin narrowed their gaze upon her, before nodding briefly.

* * *

"I've almost got it," Naruto complained as he spun his chakra within the rubber ball. It puffed out a single exit wound and deflated.

"That wasn't it at all, Naruto," Sakura said as her Sharingan eye studied the chakra within the rubber ball as it disappeared. Her original eye was covered with a patch. "It's more like this." She drew the patterns around a point, showing how Jiraiya had made the chakra move for the second part of this training.

With their Sharingan eyes, it had only taken Team 7 moments to figure out the secret of the first step.

Sasuke nodded. "She's right, though I could not see it to that detail myself. This is a lot harder to learn than a simple ninjitsu. Or even a kenjitsu."

Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves. The last five days had been set up as training for the three Chunin. "Fall in you you three. Tsunade wishes to speak to you."

They quickly trotted behind him and into the motel they were all staying in. Soon they were knocking at the door to Tsunade's room. It was slightly cluttered with scrolls and small jars of herbs.

"So, you three are serious about your commitment to Konoha and against its enemies," the old, be-glamored woman said. "Are you willing to sacrifice for that ideal?"

Jiraiya and Kakashi were a little confused, as Tsunade had not explained her plan to them.

"Of course we are! We're not going to run away from a little hardship," Naruto shouted out. Sakura nodded, slightly more hesitantly than the blonde. Sasuke just frowned.

"Are you sure? You are talking about Sakura sacrificing her normal eye to bait a trap." The Slug Sennin nodded at the shock at her pronouncement.

"He wants a Sharingan eye, so you are going to give him one. But a failed eye that won't actually work," the auburn-dyed girl said in sudden comprehension. "...bait for a trap."

"As smart as Kakashi said you were. Yes, that's the plan." Tsunade frowned. "Did you really save the old man?" she asked the girl directly.

"Yes, ma'am. One of the jonin told me to find a weak point in the barrier, which I did." Sakura looked more than a little uncertain. "So you are going to take the eye now?"

"Yes. It won't hurt a bit," the older medic replied.

Shizune frowned cutely at the byplay. The genin did not seem to be reacting the way she expected. Why?

Sakura did not even whimper as her last natural eye disappeared into a jar.

"Your will of fire is very strong. I guess that I have to think hard before I talk to the Third Hokage," Tsunade said softly.

Naruto moved over. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Ready for what, idiot?" The Slug Sennin frowned as she picked up just a bit of humor from Jiraiya and Kakashi.

"For you to give Sakura one of my eyes," Naruto commented as if she were slow. "Where do you think she got her Sharingan eye in the first place?"

"Yes," Jiraiya commented sagely with a nod. "Naruto here can regrow eyeballs. Though it is clan secret, Princess. I only know because I make that sort of thing my business." And that the old man had trusted him to do so.

"So you do something other then peep on women and have your own cloaking genjutsu?" Naruto asked sounding shocked.

Tsunade was conjuring up in a nightmarish vision of the 4th Shinobi War as Hidden Villages fought over Naruto. And the winner constantly removing his eyes to give their forces the abilities of the Sharingan. They would have a good chance of conquering all of the Elemental Countries with that sort of boost to their firepower. And even people like Danzo and his ROOT ANBU who would exploit Naruto for Sharingan-eyed forces.

'Though... why we haven't seen many Sharingan-eyed warriors after the Uchiha slaughter?' Tsunade asked herself in a sudden moment of clarity. 'You'd figure every grave robber around would dig them up for themselves or to sell.' She would have to look into that more closely. Perhaps someone _had. _And then had not let anyone else know.

"All right, Naruto. If you are sure." Tsunade had them both lay down. Her hands flashed with green healing energy, moving with superhuman skill.

* * *

"Why the f*$k are we here and not just beating up this hag to take back to the Land of Rice?" the Sound Ninja Tayuya asked as she fiddled with her red hair under its hairband.

Kidomaru sighed. "We're here because Lord Orochimaru is negotiating with Tsunade for the Sharingan eyes.

"She's the damn Legendary Sucker!" Tayuya commented. "Trick her into betting on a game of chance."

"Silence," Orochimaru called out. "She approaches." The Snake Sennin missed his protege Kabuto. He was smart and deadly while being a much better spy. He had been forced to use his snakes to watch over her.

"I brought it," Tsunade called out as she held up an advanced preservation jar with a dark green eye showing a tomoe.

"That is only one eye, dear Tsunade," Orochimaru said in his oily way as his two bodyguards moved to flank him.

"Do you take me for a fool? I'll tell you where the other is once you've shown me the technique for reviving Dan and Nowaki," the old princess said with a smirk.

That was when Jiraiya staggered around the corner, obviously under the effect of a poison or drug. "Don't do it! He's scum that you can't trust."

"Oh, does this mean I get to kill this shit-face?" Tayuya asked with a sudden smile of malice on her face.

"Dear me, Tsunade. Drugging your old team mate? I'd think you were serious about this matter." Orochimaru watched as his two bodyguards slammed into Jiraiya who seemed to barely be able to hold himself up. He smirked as he showed her a scroll.

Then suddenly the ground, eighty feet down the street, rumbled as the real Orochimaru was forced to exit the earth as spikes struck out. "Irritating. So, Kakashi Copy-Eye, you think you can kill me?" the Snake Sennin asked.

"Yes," the most powerful jonin of Konoha said flatly from the shadows as he stepped out. Both eyes were visible as his Sharingan spun and whirled. The two opponents started flashing through seals at an insane pace

Tsunade smashed the mud-clone that she had been talking to in one punch, even as Shizune leaped over a wall to assist Jiraiya. The apprentice revealed her needle launchers on her one arm, sending a barrage at Tayuya and Kidomaru. Without even a pause, she forced the Toad Sennin to drink a prepared antidote to the chakra blocker that he had been given.

The Toad Sennin perked right up. "Hey, kids? Guess what time it is?"

"Kick old, wrinkled ass time?" Tayuya called out in a condescending tone.

Kidomaru just rolled his eyes, even as he spat out a webbing at their two opponents. "Will you start already?" he shouted to her. "He's a sennin, so take him seriously."

Tayuya already had her lips to her flute and was playing a tune, laying out a genjitsu on them. Horrific, demonic figures appeared.

"Kai!" Shizune called out, only to discover that it had no effect. "Uh, oh." She flashed through some hand-seals and then expelled a gas cloud towards the flute-player who just dodged away on top of a low roof.

Jiraiya was just slapping sharp spikes of congealed webbing out of the way or burning the web with a minor fire technique. "That level of ability is not going to help against me."

"Fine. Level Two seal, activate!" Kidomaru shouted even as his cursed seal spread out over his skin.

"Me and my big mouth," the sennin complained as the man-spider became drastically more powerful.

Orochimaru was actually having a harder time than he would have thought against Kakashi. "Ku-ku-ku. A Sharingan really is a wonderful thing, isn't it?"

Kakashi was busy flashing through another set of hand seals, sending a rumbling set of spikes to explode beneath Orochimaru.

Orochimaru punched the air several times and each time a snake shot out of his sleeves at the jonin. Soon it was a large mass of snakes with venom dripping off their fangs that was trying to chase after Kakashi. At least until he burned them to white vapor with a fireball. Then Orochimaru had to duck a punch that exploded the twenty foot wall behind him.

"Well, Orochimaru, it seems it is time to pay for your treason," Tsunade said with a tight grin.

"Is Jiraiya paying you to say such heroic nonsense?" Orochimaru snapped out with a wide, sly smile even as he dodged Kakashi trying to slice at him with a kunai and ducked the jonin's snap-kick. He did lost some hair as the hairline cut on his pale cheek told him to take this a bit more seriously. "I was under the impression that you had let your skills lapse a bit. It appears I was incorrect."

"That would be your mistake," Kakashi said as he dodged the Snake Sennin's attacks as only a master of the Sharingan could do.

"How can you see my movements after I've enhanced my body so much?" their opponent complained.

"You are still failing to know these type of eyes," Kakashi said as he lashed out with an arm covered in lightning right through Orochimaru's chest.

The Snake Sennin was forced to shed his skin to save his life. Tsunade had taken advantage of his technique blocking his eyes for a mere tenth of a second to snap a kick where he would be, break three of his new ribs.

"Argh. You bitch!" He bit his lip and smeared some blood across his face.

Tsunade then punched him without delay on his nose. "I'm sorry. That weakness was last week."

Orochimaru's expression turned sour. He definitely was going to need some new spies after this was over. He needed to keep up to date on things like this. But he held up a jar with a floating eye. "Ku ku ku ku. I seem to have picked up a trophy somewhere."

"Come back with that," Tsunade shouted, acting as if she cared he took it. Inwardly she grinned at Orochimaru finding that eye had been poisoned and frankly wasn't sure the optic nerves even worked in it anymore.

Shizune was in quite a bit of trouble, as the girl she was facing off against had also activated her second level of her cursed seal. Just dodging the massive monster summons was all she could do. It must have also counter her poison that she had tried to use to numb her lips and fingers. Jiraiya seemed to be doing fine against the spider-themed Sound Ninja he was fighting.

"You are being really annoying," the apprentice to the Slug Sennin said in vexation.

That was when the three newly promoted chunin entered the battle. Sasuke smashed the large ogre with a chidori, even as a impossible loud whistle appeared. Sakura had formed some of the ground into a six foot tall whistle and was pumping a large amount of air through its pipe. Then Naruto used the Great Wind Breakthrough to slam Tayuya into a wall, though it only stunned her for a second.

She looked very unhappy, even though no one could hear anything but the loud whistle. A Naruto clone had grabbed her flute and they briefly fought over it until it snapped. The row of poisoned needles that stitched up her torso thanks from Shizune, causing her to fall over unconscious.

Sakura stopped her whistle. "Should we help the Sennin?" she asked everyone.

"What?" Naruto yelled out.

"No," Shizune said. "They have it under control."

And indeed, the three older ninja did. Orochimaru was doing everything he could to break free, as Tsunade and Kakashi were too much for him to counter on his own. Jiraiya had just burst through Kidomaru's webbing and planted a Rasengan into his torso and blasted him into a crater.

"Not bad, kid, but not good enough." Jiraiya then leaped over to help triple team Orochimaru.

The Snake Sennin had quit fighting offensively by this point, as Tsunade was somehow ignoring any wounds or cuts, healing them instantly due to a seal on her forehead.

"Ku ku ku ku. It appears I had best take what I've gained before I lose everything," he said to his old team-mates. He sent a row of rock spikes at them all and then ducked under the earth.

Before they could regain the ground from jumping high, he had burrowed into it and away.

"Should I summon my dogs?" Kakashi asked.

"I doubt they could catch up to him and he'd likely summon some nasty snake to deal with them. We had best hold off for now. My opponent died. What about yours?" he asked of Shizune and the chunins.

"She's just paralyzed. They have some amazing teamwork," the poison ninja said. "Oh, Tsundae? You used that technique? That steals years from you each time you use it."

"What? How can she be Hokage if she dies of old age?" Naruto shouted out in anger. "That's really stupid!"

"Unless you have an unlimited amount of chakra to heal me yourself, you have nothing to say," the old woman said as she prepared to lower her power.

Naruto suddenly was in her face. "Yeah, I do! Kai!" he shouted while slapping his palm over her forehead. He focused everything he could through the little seal that Jiraiya had put on his palm as part of his Rasengan training.

Tsunade just grabbed his arm to pull him away when the surge of pure chakra blasted through her seal. It really was not meant to function this way, but he had actually guessed correctly that any source of chakra could fuel its body healing power. "You idiot. Regular chakra won't help me," she stuttered out.

Surprisingly, Naruto _knew_ that already. With clenched teeth, he forced some of the red chakra from his seal into the wound.

Tsunade felt something burning in her chakra coils. She narrowed her eyes, feeling the regeneration effect somehow expand and suffuse everything.

After a minute, Naruto finally collapsed. "Let's see what that did..." he panted out.

Tsunade was looking at her skin in shock. Not a single age spot or wrinkle adorned them. "I need a mirror." Her seal had deactivated and she no longer had any chakra to maintain her illusion.

Shizune handed her a mirror, showing a well preserved, forty-year old version of herself. "I'm young?"

"Yeah, not too bad looking for an old broad," Naruto said while yawning. He then collapsed, out cold.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, catching him before he could hit the earth. "He's... just sleeping?"'

"Hmm. My eyes are a bit red-brown," Tsunade said as she studied herself in the mirror. "I guess I can't really complain. Better than looking sixty."

"So, now that your business is finished, let's get headed back to Konoha," Jiraiya called out, posing like the strange old coot he was.

Sasuke looked at him and wondered how sane the 4th Hokage could have been training under the Toad Sanin. This man was like that crazy old bachelor uncle you hoped to only see at the reunions and not have him make a complete fool of himself.

Sasuke just grunted. He wanted to get back to the sanity of Konoha.


End file.
